


can i be your boyfriend (can i)

by supremekermit



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, california au, lapslock, mainly nct127 lineup, my first nct fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-05-14 06:43:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14764596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supremekermit/pseuds/supremekermit
Summary: jaehyun moves to california in the middle of junior year and falls a little sideways for a soundcloud rapper named taeyong. taeyong doesn't know what to do about that.alternatively: the jaeyong high school au that no one asked for.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> thank you to the ppl who yelled at me to make this happen <3 y'all

 jaehyun hadn’t expected california to be cold in the spring. but now, as he’s standing at the front of the classroom, he thinks that maybe he should have worn a jacket after all.

“new student, huh?” the teacher jaehyun had handed his schedule to peers at him over the rims of her glasses. 

jaehyun nods and tries to hide the little shiver that runs down his spine as another wave of air conditioning blasts from the vent directly above him. his grip tightens on his backpack straps. he can feel the air on his arms raising with each passing second.

“how do you pronounce your name?” the teacher asks with a dignified sniff.

he opens his mouth. “it’s jae-”

“wait, no, no,” the teacher interrupts. she waves her hands as if to dismiss all traces of jaehyun’s speech and raises an index finger firmly. “don’t tell me. i can do it.”

jaehyun casts a helpless glance towards his classmates. an audible sigh comes from the corner of the room and jaehyun’s eyes jump to the sight of a black haired boy slumped over his desk, eyebrows raised in lack of amusement. across from him, a redhead rolls his eyes and sends jaehyun a small smile.

jaehyun turns back to the teacher. she looks hard at the yellow paper clamped between her purple nails, before leveling her stare to jaehyun. jaehyun has to physically restrain himself from letting his eyes roll to the back of his head.

“jah-hee-yoon?” 

each syllable the woman pulls out is painful. 

“jay-hoon?” 

he cringes. 

“jee-hun?” 

_no_ , jaehyun thinks. _please, someone stop this woman._

“ja-” 

jaehyun sucks in a breathe. 

“actually, it’s just jaehyun,” he says. he tacks on a smile as the woman’s left eyebrow raises to an intimidating angle. “just. jaehyun.”

“well then, mr. ‘just jaehyun’, welcome to the class,” the teacher sniffs. “i am mrs. mcphee." 

“nice to meet you,” jaehyun says.

she stares, unamused. he smiles again.

with a flick of the wrist, she hands back his paper and points at the corner of the room. “you can take the empty seat at that table over there.” the table over there, which is more accurately described as a cluster of four desks, turns out to be the same one occupied by the two guys from earlier who look just as done as jaehyun feels. with a quiet “thanks”, jaehyun starts to move towards his seat. 

just then, his schedule slips out from his hand. jaehyun bends down to retrieve it, but stops when another hand hovers over it first. he whips his head up. at first, all he can see is a set of large eyes boring into his. they quickly snap away and jaehyun realizes that he’s looking at a very handsome face of a boy. his hair is a shock of platinum, peeking out from the hood of his sweater. jaehyun is about to open his mouth to say something but when he glances down, the boy had already snatched away his hand and jammed it into his pocket. 

clearing his throat, jaehyun picks up the paper and walks over to his seat. 

“hi,” he whispers to his tablemates. at the front of the room, the teacher had resumed the powerpoint she was showing before jaehyun had interrupted. the two boys offer smiles and waves in return. the black-haired boy moves his jacket from where it had occupied jaehyun’s new desk and motions for jaehyun to set his stuff down. shooting him a dimpled grin, jaehyun slides his into seat and shoves his bag underneath the table.

“my name’s ten,” the black-haired boy says.

“and i’m johnny,” says the redhead. he looks at jaehyun through half-lidded eyes and gives a small nod. 

jaehyun nods back. “i’m jaehyun.” 

“‘just’ jaehyun, apparently,” ten snorts. jaehyun cringes and ten lets out a laugh. the sound is perhaps a bit louder than it should have been and at the front, mrs.mcphee stops mid-rant about some obscure shakespeare reference to glare directly at their table. 

“chittaphon, do you have something to share with all of us?” 

ten shakes his head and murmurs a small “nope, sorry about that.” the teacher casts him another glare before returning to her lesson.

in a notably more hushed voice, ten says, “i hate her. she insists on calling me by my legal name even though i kept telling her to just call me ten.” he pauses, tossing a glance at the teacher over his shoulder before continuing. “you thought this was bad? imagine how hard i had it on the first day of school.” he lets out a shiver, and jaehyun laughs silently. 

“i remember,” johnny says, “she spent a whole 15 minutes trying to figure out how to say your name.”

ten shakes his head. “you’d think for someone working at a school full of asian students, she could be a little less aggressive with her ignorance.” he points at his sweatshirt, which spells out “#woke” in a neon green font. “definitely not woke.”

“this content will most likely be on the next quiz, so i would advise you all to take extensive notes!”

jaehyun scrambles to pull a spiral notebook out of his bag and flips to a new page. pushing up his glasses from where they had slid down his nose, he squints at the board and quickly copies down the bullet points. 

“so,” johnny whispers, “where did you move from?”

“connecticut,” jaehyun whispers back.

“woah, east coast,” ten says. “that’s pretty far away.”

jaehyun nods. “yup.”

“how are you liking california?” johnny asks.

“to be honest, i thought it would be hott-”

“does anyone know what a bildungsroman is?” mrs.mcphee booms. the quiet murmur of the class stutters into silence and the teacher glowers at them. “anyone?”

no one raises their hand.

tapping a purple claw against the board, she scans the room slowly before landing on her target.

“taeyong?”

the boy that jaehyun had dropped his paper in front of stiffens in his seat.

“do you know what a bildungsroman is?” mrs. mcphee edges closer to him and the boy squirms in his seat. “well?”

the boy clears his throat. “um, it’s a type of story where you follow the protagonist as they grow up. basically a coming of age." 

the teacher sniffs in satisfaction. “correct. i suppose only one person in this entire class knows the answer then, which means the rest of you plan on failing the quiz?” 

a series of ‘no’s ripple through the classroom. 

“well then, i expect that you all pay better attention,” she snaps. she clicks her tongue in dissatisfaction, before proceeding onto the next slide.

jaehyun’s eyes stay on the boy who had answered the question. he’s returned to taking notes, tugging up the hood of his sweater so that it doesn’t slip down from his head.  

“anyways, what were you saying?” ten whispers.

jaehyun turns back to his table. “oh yeah. i thought california would be hotter.”

   

 

in spite of the tour johnny and ten had given him around the campus during lunch, which consisted of a lot of vague pointing and particularly vivid third party accounts of certain occurrences (“you see that little blacked out corner near the water fountain? some kid was smoking weed and i guess he got so lit he accidentally started a fire,” ten had said with a nonchalant shrug), jaehyun is still having a bit of hard time navigating around the school.  

“where the fresh fuck is this place?” he mutters and squints at his phone. the glare of the sun was doing little to aid his process and he lets out a frustrated sigh as he fumbles with the brightness setting. his aunt had texted him saying that she’d pick him up from “the back parking lot” of the school, but where exactly that was remains a complete mystery. he has no doubt that the screenshot of the stupid map was wrong, considering how johnny offhandedly mentioned that the school had undergoing reconstruction. with a frustrated sigh, jaehyun readjusts his glasses, pushing them up from where they had slid down his nose bridge. he really needs an update on this prescription.

katalk.

a notification pops up on his phone screen. jaehyun opens the message and narrows his eyes to read its content.

 

** aunt mina**

_ running late, i’ll be there in 10 minutes! _

 

_just wonderful,_ jaehyun thinks, _i have another 10 minutes to figure my way out of this damn maze._ tired, he lugs his body towards a planter and sits down, plopping his backpack onto the cement surface. 

with a quick scan of his surroundings, jaehyun comes to the conclusion that 1) the school was like, actually really big. compared to the size of this place, his school in connecticut seems like a shack in a forest. 2) it’s going to be impossible to navigate his way if he only relied on the shitty map. there was also apparently no one around he could ask for directions from. jaehyun lets out another sigh, and fiddles with the zipper on his backpack. the shrubs growing in the planter poke at his shoulders. okay, so he could be a dumbass and continue to wander around in vain. or… he could walk his ass back to the office, like he should have done minutes ago, and ask for directions.

“great. amazing,” jaehyun deadpans as he reluctantly shrugs on his backpack. “wonderful.” he pushes himself off the planter and onto his feet, immediately regretting the lack of shade. 

and just as he’s about to move in the direction of the office (somehow he managed to remember that, at the very least), he stops.

some kind of music was coming out from behind a group of trees, a few yards away from the planter. 

“i need a gangster, to love me better, than all the others-“ kehlani croons from the greenery.

_damn,_ jaehyun thinks, _who’s playing the bop of my life?_ he grips onto the straps of his bag and edges closer to the trees. at first, all he can make out is a figure clad in a black, weaving back and forth between the edges of greenery. upon further squinting as he peeks between a cluster of branches, jaehyun’s eyes focuses on the back of a boy in a hoodie, with tufts of bleached hair sticking out from under a camouflage print cap. the boy appears to be dancing to the song. no, dancing is an understatement. the boy is the living embodiment of the music, rolling his shoulder and snapping his chest in perfect synchronization of the beat. his feet move in a flurry of lithe movements, as he sways and turns to the melody. it’s utterly breathtaking, and jaehyun finds himself rooted to his spot, his eyes and mouth exponentially widening as he continues to watch the boy. 

he doesn’t know how long he stands there, entranced, until the song is replaced by silence.

“and that’s a wrap!” a voice calls out. jaehyun startles, as he realizes there was another person there all along. the other dude in question held onto a camera and smiled widely at black-hoodie boy, motioning him to come closer and look at whatever was on the camera. the boy turns, and jaehyun blinks with recognition. it was the same cute guy from his english class. tae something. 

from jaehyun’s peeping tom stance, he can see the boy’s mouth puckering and then pressing itself flat as he assesses the video clip over the shoulder of the camera dude. definitely cute. his hair flops over his knit eyebrows and he lifts his head to push away his bangs— only to make direct eye contact with jaehyun.

jaehyun freezes. 

_ oh shit. _

the boy stares. 

jaehyun hyperventilates.

“um,” hoodie boy starts. his friend’s head snaps up interest and soon both of them are staring at jaehyun.

_well shit. where is california and its earthquakes when i need the ground to spontaneously open up and swallow me whole._ using all the will left in him to not turn around and bolt, jaehyun scampers out from his position behind the trees to flash a sheepish smile at the two spooked boys.

“uh, hi, sorry i was just walking around and i was uh, kinda lost? i was looking for the back parking lot but i couldn’t find it and uh, sorry, i’m new and wow you know, this school is really big—“

“oh, you’re the new guy from connecticut?” 

hoodie boy is still staring at jaehyun with an unreadable facial expression but his friend who had spoken up had eyes that shone with a mixture of what jaehyun deemed to be both confusion and mild amusement.

“jaehyun, right?” camera dude asks. 

“uh yeah,” jaehyun replies, as he sucks in a breathe and calms his nerves enough to break a less nervous smile. he briefly wonders how the boy knows about him but decides not ask. “just moved here and your school is pretty damn big.”

camera dude nods. hoodie boy just blinks.

pressing a few buttons on his DSLR, the camera guy closes the device and fixes jaehyun with a friendly grin. “i’m taeil.” he gestures to hoodie boy. “and this is taeyong.” taeyong nods, and the corners of his mouth quirk in what jaehyun assumes is a smile. 

“anyways,” taeil continues, “where did you say you were trying to go?”

jaehyun quickly peels his eyes away from hoodie boy to respond. “oh yeah, the back parking lot?” jaehyun waves around his phone, which he’d been clutching in his hand the entire time. “i tried to look at a picture of the map, but i couldn’t figure it out." 

“the map’s been outdated for a solid three years, so it probably didn’t do you any good,” taeil says. “the back parking lot, hmm…” taeil looks over jaehyun’s shoulder and points. “if you go down that way, and then make a left turn at the orange-ish building, there should be another building. that’s the library and if you walk past the gate there, that should be the back parking lot you’re looking for.”

jaehyun’s eyes follow taeil’s finger and he nods with enthusiasm as his eyes follow the vague path highlighted by taeil’s index. 

“finally,” jaehyun sighs, shoulders dropping in relief. he didn’t even realize how stressed out he was over this whole thing. he turns to flash the two boys another smile. “thank you so much.”

“no problem,” taeil quips. “this place is actually huge compared to normal campuses, so it can be hard getting used to, but you’ll get it soon enough. 

jaehyun nods, and attempts to steal another glance at taeyong. the boy in question gives a small nod at taeil’s statement but otherwise betrayed no expression. instead, his eyes are fixed on the camera in taeil’s hand.

“okay, well, i better get going. thank you guys again!” with that, jaehyun casts a wave at the pair and turns to walk down the path taeil had pointed out.

_taeyong_ , jaehyun muses. _taeyong_. he smiles as he turns at a building and spies the gate taeil had talked about. behind the metal fixture, he could see bits of his aunt’s red Toyota. _taeyong, taeyong, taeyong_ , he thinks and pushes his way through the gate.

 

  

 

_tap tap_. “what are you watching?” jaehyun asks.

ten abruptly lifts his head up from where he was hunched over his phone and yanks out his earbuds. “what?”

jaehyun gestures at ten’s phone while sliding his lunch tray onto the table. “i said, what are you watching?”

ten casts a glance at his phone and looks back at jaehyun with realization. “oh, a dance video.” he waves the screen in front of jaehyun. jaehyun nods, and is about to turn back to his tray, when he catches the paused image of someone in a black hoodie and camo-cap. 

“wait, is that taeyong?”

“huh? yeah, it’s taeyong,” ten nods. “how’d you know?”

“oh, uh, i just saw him shooting the video after school.” more like creepily watched him from behind a bush, but sure, go off.

ten buys his answer and shrugs. “yeah, he does that a lot.”

“who does what a lot?”

johnny appears with two trays in his hand and plops one down in front of ten, before taking a seat across from them. jaehyun notes how he’d removed the fruit cup from ten’s tray and stacked it onto his own.

“taeyong,” ten replies. he gestures to his phone, which was still on the paused video. “i was just telling jaehyun about how taeyong shoots dance videos and stuff.” 

“oh yup, the dude is super talented,” johnny adds, as he sticks a fork into what appeared to be lukewarm macaroni. “get this, he has a soundcloud where he posts his rap stuff. it should be like hella lame, but his music is actually good.”

jaehyun’s mind whirls with this new information. dance, and music? taeyong seems to have no limits in talent. “you guys know him well?” he asks.

“ten does,” johnny answers through a mouth of cheese and noodles. ten wrinkles his nose in disgust, but nods at jaehyun. 

“we attend the same dance studio. we used to be on the same crew, but he left last season so he could focus more on studying.” then, ten’s expression shifts to one of curiosity. “why are you so interested in him anyways?”

“nothing, he just seems like a cool dude.”

johnny snorts. it seems he’s finally swallowed all the food in his mouth when he says, “yeah right. let me guess: you think he’s hot.”

jaehyun wills his ears to not flush red and of course, they do regardless. he clears his throat and unconsciously pushed up his glasses. “i mean, he’s not bad-lookin’.”

ten pats his shoulder, face pulled in an expression of amusement. “it’s okay honey, been there, done that.”

jaehyun’s eyes furrow at the implications. 

“i mean, i thought he was hot too,” ten hums. “he’s still hot, but i’m no longer interested.”

across from them, johnny makes a mock gagging noise and ten shoots him a glare.

jaehyun nods. no lie, he was kind of relieved for some reason. “so do you guys know if he’s uh…”

“gay?” 

“yeah. or you know bi or just like, not straight…” 

ten and johnny share an unreadable expression, then both shrug. 

“to be honest, i don’t think i’ve ever heard of him dating anyone,” johnny says. 

ten shakes his head in agreement, his fingers tapping against his phone. the screen had gone black and jaehyun could no longer see the blurry frame of taeyong mid-motion. “let’s put it this way: he’s rejected everyone who’s ever asked him out and i’ve never heard him talk about being interested in anyone.” 

jaehyun slumps down a bit lower onto the bench.

“it’s not like that's a surprise,” johnny drawls. “no offense, but the guy has the emotional range of this plastic spork.” he waves around the utensil in his hand, only to be swatted by ten.

“don’t be fucking rude,” ten snaps, and johnny rolls his eyes.

“so he’s not available?” jaehyun mutters, staring down at his now cold pile of plastic-y cheese and stale macaroni noodles.

“well it’s not like he’s not available, it’s just that—” ten trails and stops when he sees something over johnny’s shoulder. 

jaehyun follows his gaze and maybe his pulse picks up some speed when he sees a tuft of bleached hair sticking out against the garishly green walls of the cafeteria. taeyong’s walking with taeil, his hands stuck in the pockets of his adidas track pants. some guy in a death note t-shirt is also walking beside them, his arm slung over taeil's shoulder. behind them, a boy with dark hair is making furious hand motions as he seems to be describing some vivid account of either washing laundry or voguing in sped up motion to another guy who looked like he was only half listening.

“what, what are we looking at—“ johnny cranes his neck, like he could somehow twist it in a complete 180.

ten kicks his shin. “stop being obnoxious, dumbass.”

then, taeyong’s group nears their table and ten ceases his attempt to mentally and physically whoop johnny’s ass. taeil is the first to greet them as they pass, and jaehyun musters up a small wave and smile. ten gives them a bright “hey guys” while johnny nods his head, still sulking about the pain inflicted on his shin. when jaehyun turns to direct his smile at taeyong, the boy in question simply blinks back. it’s almost as if he didn’t actually register jaehyun’s gesture and when he finally does, his eyes slightly widen. for a brief moment, it looks like taeyong is going to pull a hand out of his pockets and return the wave, his left hand slowly rising out of the depths of his nylon pants. but then the group heads towards the lunch line and now taeyong’s hands are shoved even further down his pockets than they were before as he turns to follow.

jaehyun’s eyes follow the boy as he grabs a tray and stands behind taeil, that one hand still stuck in his pocket.

“anyways, as i was saying— jaehyun. jaehyun.”

“earth to jaehyun,” johnny sing-songs, and snatches the cookie from jaehyun’s tray. 

jaehyun snaps to attention. “huh? oh, yeah, sorry.” his gaze flies back and forth between the amused faces of johnny and ten. “what were you saying?” 

“you,” johnny laughed as he stares at the cookie in his hand, “are whipped.” he takes a bite and his face scrunches up. he immediately drops the cookie back onto jaehyun’s tray.

“what do you mean, i was just—“

ten rolls his eyes. “you know what, go for it.”

“go for what?” 

“go for taeyong,” ten draws out. he motions his head to where the blonde was standing, looking as emotionally stunted as ever while the line moves.

jaehyun bites his lips. “you think i can?” 

ten hums in contemplation. “maybe. i mean if anyone could worm their way into taeyong’s heart, you wouldn’t be a bad candidate.” he pauses, eyes scanning jaehyun’s face. “like, you’re hot.”

“thanks?”

ten puts up his hand. “not interested. but maybe taeyong will be.”

“yeah dude,” johnny says, ripping into one of his fruit cups. for some reason, ten makes faux gagging motions and quickly averts his eyes from the scene of johnny shovelling fruit cubes into his mouth. johnny pauses mid-chewing to roll his eyes and jaehyun’s eyebrow furrow.

“i don’t like fruits,” ten quickly explains. jaehyun nods, still confused.

ten sighs. “anyways. just try going for taeyong, yeah?” 

“okay,” jaehyun murmurs. from the corner of his vision, taeyong has finally left the lunch line and is walking next to taeil, one hand clutching his tray while the other runs through his hair. _yeah, okay._ he turns back to ten. 

“does taeyong have an instagram?”


	2. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprise i'm alive

“...and done,” jaehyun says. with a huff, he presses down on the space bar and closes his laptop. who would have thought that moving to a new state in the middle of junior year would mean having to catch up with a ridiculous amount of coursework? wild. jaehyun leans back on his seat and lets out a sigh, sneaking a finger under his glasses to rub at his tired eyes. he glances at his clock, then at the pile of textbooks sitting next to his laptop.

“okay, fuck homework,” jaehyun mutters and pushes himself out of his seat. he ambles towards his bed and essentially topples onto it, letting the patchwork pattern of the blankets fill his vision as he falls face first. he groans into the comforter. “fuck school.”

jaehyun lies there, unwilling to move any limbs. it’s not until he realizes that his oxygen intake is rapidly declining that he shifts, tilting his face to the side and letting one cheek squish against the bed. from his position, he spots his phone sitting on top of the nightstand. a thought lights up in his head.

unlike any sane person would, jaehyun makes no attempts to get up. rather, he inches his body towards the side of the bed until he can finally extend his arm and grasp his phone. jaehyun lets the fingerprint id work its magic. puffing out a little breathe, he opens up instagram and quickly locates the search box.

he doesn’t bother to type in the search query because what he’s looking for is already sitting at the top of his recent results.

**asgdgdsjsjtaeyong**

his mouth quirks at the obnoxious username. he taps on the profile and scrolls down.

of course, jaehyun’s seen all of taeyong’s instagram posts already. which is, not creepy at all. the moment ten had told him about taeyong’s account, jaehyun had immediately whipped out his phone and demanded for his username. thank the social media gods the boy somehow has a public account in this day and age of social media security scares. it also certainly helped that taeyong only has 10 posts, half of which fall under the dignified category of “black and white tumblr grunge”, while the others are grainy selfies where part of taeyong’s face is hidden.

the sole exception to this theme is taeyong’s latest post. jaehyun clicks on it. it’s a photo of taeyong with his arm slung around the same guy jaehyun had seen in the death note t-shirt, except in the photo, the guy is wearing a one punch man shirt. the rest of the guys from taeyong’s group at lunch are also there, huddled around the camera with vibrant expression.

jaehyun’s mouth rises in a small smile.

“um, what are you doing?”

he all but lets out a high pitched shriek. in jaehyun’s violent spasm, his phone jumps out of his hand and onto the other side of the mattress. he scrambles onto his knees and whips his head around in alarm, only to find his little cousin standing in the doorway.

“seriously, what the hell were you doing?” donghyuck asks. for a twelve year old, he looks especially judgmental as he shoots jaehyun a disturbed expression.

“nothing,” jaehyun snaps.

donghyuck raises an eyebrow.

jaehyun lunges for his phone but donghyuck gets there first and snatches it out of his grasp. the middle schooler squints at the screen, before cackling and running towards the door.

“give it back,” growls jaehyun, leaping off his bed. he tackles donghyuck, who’’s bent over laughing, one hand clutching jaehyun’s phone while the other rested on the doorframe. he makes no attempt to fight back as jaehyun wraps one arm around his neck and reaches for his phone with another.

the boy is still laughing when jaehyun finally manages to snatch away the device and throws it back onto his bed.

“wow, i can’t believe you’ve been here for less than a week and you already have the hots for someone,” donghyuck giggles through bated breathe.

jaehyun untangles from donghyuck. “i don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“especially for taeyong lee at that.”

jaehyun hisses, “i do not have the hots for taey- wait.” he stares at donghyuck with confusion. “how do you know him?”

donghyuck shrugs and leans against the doorframe, crossing his arms. “i don’t know, what do i get in return if i tell you?"

jaehyun rolls his eyes. “absolutely nothing.”

“awesome,” donghyuck says. “my mom said to come down and eat dinner, by the way.” with that, he turns to leave. or he would have, if jaehyun didn’t grab his shoulder.

“wait.”

donghyuck turns back around. “twenty dollars.”

jaehyun gapes. “that’s a capitalist crime.”

“fine, fifteen dollars then and you can pretend you live in a communist utopia,” donghyuck sniffs.

“no way.”

“ten dollars.”

 _the audacity of this kid_ , jaehyun thinks.

“how do you even know what communism is,” jaehyun grumbles as he stalks off to the corner of the room for his backpack. he unzips a compartment to locate his wallet and then walks back over to slap the money into donghyuck’s awaiting hand. “you’re literally twelve.”

donghyuck waves his hand dismissively, the green bill clamped between his fingers. “and you’re age-ist.”

“okay, just hurry up and cut to the chase.”

donghyuck pockets the money, then squints at jaehyun.

“donghyuck.”

“ok fine,” donghyuck says. he plops down on the ground, and sits criss-cross against the wall. “taeyong’s the older brother of my friend mark.”

“taeyong has a little brother?” jaehyun asks. _that’s cute._

“yeah, and i can see what you’re thinking,” donghyuck says, wrinkling his nose. “you’re gross.”

“how do you even know what i’m thinking?”

donghyuck rolls his eyes. “you get that dumb look on your face. anyways, taeyong is technically mark’s stepbrother but he seems pretty nice. he’s always there whenever i go over to mark’s house.”

jaehyun takes a minute to pore over the information in his mind. “so, do you know if he has a—“

“boyfriend? girlfriend? significant other in this age of increasing awareness and acceptance?”

jaehyun nods.

“nope, never seen one,” donghyuck quips. “mark says that taeyong’s going to be forever alone.”

“what, why?” jaehyun asks, his forehead pinching.

donghyuck shrugs and then proceeds to get up from the floor. “he’s kind of like, weird. i think he’s what you would call, how do they say it… oh yeah, ‘socially awkward’.”

 _taeyong? socially awkward?_ jaehyun thinks back to that encounter in the lunchroom, when he was sure taeyong was going to wave back at him but then didn’t. _okay, but it’s still a bit much to call him socially awkward._

“how bad could it—“

“boys! come down for dinner,” jaehyun’s aunt bellows from the kitchen.

donghyuck fixes jaehyun with a look. “trust me. it’s bad.” and then he’s walking down the hall, leaving jaehyun to stare at the phone lying face down on his bed.

 

 

“the time has come.”

jaehyun’s head snaps up from french worksheet, which is currently sandwiched between a beat up copy of _twelfth night_ and his folder for english. his hand still moves across the page, trying its best to scribble in some attempt at verb conjugations before he has turn in the homework next period.

mrs. mcphee rises from her desk and stalks to the center of the room. the buzzing of the classroom dulls to a silence, all eyes trailing the woman as she reaches for the projector and removes the lens cap. the blank board is soon replaced by a terrifying text: “midterm project” in red and bold comic sans.

“the time has come,” the teacher repeats, “for you all to take on the midterm project.”

jaehyun puts down his pen.

mrs. mcphee clicks onto the next slide. “the instructions are simple. as we are currently covering shakespeare’s _twelfth night_ , your project will need to be an exploration of a theme within the novel in any manner you choose.” she pauses to throw a pointed glare at ten, who’s head is down on the desk.

“get up,” johnny hisses, stabbing at ten’s arm with the blunt end of his pen. the sleeping boy rouses and blinks at them blearily.

“what—“ ten begins, but stops. all eyes in the classroom stare back at him.

“oops, sorry,” he mutters, ducking his head sheepishly.

mrs. mcphee lets out a strained noise. “anyways, before i was so _rudely_ interrupted,” she continues. ten coughs. “the project will account for 100 points. you will be graded on five different categories and on a 10 point scale for each category.”

the classroom murmurs in nervousness. a hand raises.

“is this a solo project?”

jaehyun recognizes the owner of the voice. it’s yuta, the guy who’s always wearing some kind of anime merch and more importantly, attached to taeyong at the hip. jaehyun learned his name from clicking on the tagged accounts on taeyong’s instagram photo, only to discover a public account dedicated to obscure tumblr memes.

mrs. mcphee shakes her head. “i was just about to get to that.” with another click, the slide changes. “you will be grouped up into pairs. of course, they are chosen by me.”

jaehyun squints at the list of name, eyes moving down the list until he finds his own. or rather, “jayhyun jung”. he sighs, then slides his gaze over the name on next column.

his eyes widen.

it’s “taeyong lee”.

 _taeyong lee. taeyong. taeyong?_ jaehyun’s eyes jump to the boy near the front of the room. he appears to be reading the list, but his eyes are narrowed and his brows furrow. jaehyun watches as taeyong reaches over to tap yuta and point to the screen when he captures his attention. the other boy nods at whatever taeyong is saying, before placing a small pat on taeyong’s hand.

“oh damn, you’re partners with taeyong,” ten comments. jaehyun turns back. ten and johnny are smiling at him, ten looking significantly more conscious than he had a minute ago.

johnny lets out a low whistle. “here’s your chance, bro.”

“shit.” jaehyun releases a breathe he didn’t know he was holding. “i’m really partners with taeyong.” his eyes fly back to the other side of the room, where taeyong is shaking his head at something yuta said.

“silence!” mrs. mcphee booms. she throws a cursory glance at the clock. “seeing that we have only five minutes left of class, you can all start working on your project.”

jaehyun is still staring at taeyong when the boy turns around, his eyes becoming fixed onto jaehyun. jaehyun tries his best to not hyperventilate; instead, he sends a small grin in taeyong’s direction. taeyong simply stares back, then nods. jaehyun decides to interpret the nod as a signal for him to move closer, so he pushes out of his seat, his blood thrumming in his ears.

“hi,” jaehyun says.

“uh, hi,” taeyong replies. his eyes dart from jaehyun’s face to his own hands.

up close, the boy is even more good looking than jaehyun remembers. jaehyun hadn’t noticed before, but one of taeyong’s eyebrows is slashed towards the end, which seems pretty badass in jaehyun’s opinion. also, taeyong’s head isn’t covered by the hood of a baggy sweater today. instead, his blonde hair sits on his head in a floppy pile for world to see and jaehyun’s eyes trail the piercings that decorate taeyong’s left ear.

“um, so…”

jaehyun snaps back into attention. his ears flush red with the realization that he’s must have been staring at taeyong, who’s now shifting in his seat uncomfortably. it also didn’t help that jaehyun is positively towering over him.

a quick revival of his last two brain cells has jaehyun crouching down to a squat, so that he’s eye level with taeyong.

“sorry about that,” jaehyun says. “i blanked out.” _because you’re so hot._

taeyong just nods. he looks around before bending over to unzip his bag and pulling out his phone. “uh… do you have an instagram? i can add you so we can talk about the project.” he waves his phone in front of jaehyun.

“yup, i have an instagram,” jaehyun enthusiastically responds. he fishes his phone out of his back pocket.

“okay, cool. do you want my username?” taeyong asks. he edges closer to jaehyun, and from the distance, jaehyun gets a whiff of a pleasant scent, something akin to clean laundry and soap.

“yeah, sure.”

“it’s a-s-g-d-g—“ taeyong cuts off, then juts out an open hand. “here, just give me your phone and i can type it in.”

“okay.” jaehyun begins to hand his device over. then he freezes.

 _shit._ _my search results. his account is at the top of my search results._

taeyong stares at jaehyun in confusion. he reaches out to grab the phone, only for jaehyun to jerk it out of his reach.

taeyong blinks. “uh.”

“um,” jaehyun mutters. _oh fuck._

“your phone?” taeyong gestures.

“uh,” jaehyun starts. he clears his throat and flashes taeyong a bright smile. “uh, it’s fine, you can just tell me your username.”

taeyong’s eyebrows raise. “it’s really long though?”

jaehyun forces out a laugh, hoping it doesn’t sound too much like he was actually trying to choke on his saliva and cease his existence. “it’s fine.”

“um, okay then,” taeyong says. “it’s a-s-g-d-g-d—“

jaehyun tries hard to restrain his hyperventilation as he keys in the letter. “oh would you look at that, i found it!”

taeyong looks at jaehyun in confusion, his eyebrows pinched. he begins to open his mouth, maybe to call jaehyun out for being weird, and jaehyun gulps, mentally bracing himself. then the bell rings.

“class dismissed!”

taeyong’s mouth snaps shut. instead, he gives jaehyun a small nod. jaehyun slumps in relief.

“cool, i’ll follow you and we can, uh, talk later?” jaehyun says, standing up.

taeyong nods again.

giving him one last smile, jaehyun turns and ambles back to his desk. he hastily shoves his papers into his bag, creases be damned, and walks out the classroom, past ten and johnny who are waiting for him

“damn jae, wait up,” johnny exclaims. he and ten rush towards jaehyun, who’s now slumped against his locker.

“so, how was taeyong?” ten asks, his eyes shining in the fluorescent light of the hallway.

“uh,” jaehyun breathes. “it was… okay? i think he thinks i’m weird because he was telling me his account and then he was like ‘just give me your phone’ and i kind of like, yanked it out of his reach and it was kinda—“

the second bell rings, signalling that half of passing period is over.

ten and johnny share a look.

“save it for lunch,” ten says. “we’re gonna be late.”

jaehyun nods, and follows his friends as they rush down the hall and into the courtyard. jaehyun barely makes it to his french class on time, sliding down on his seat as the final bell rings. all the while, his phone burns in his back pocket.

 **_asgdgdsjsjtaeyong_ ** _started following you._

 

 

 

it’s 8 when taeyong texts him.  jaehyun is chin deep in a shitload of calculus homework, and he’s starting to getting dizzy from looking at integrals when his phone dings. he startles. it’s an instagram notification.

**taeyong**

_hi._

jaehyun throws down his pencil and sucks in a breathe.

“hi taeyong,” he mutters while he keys in the letters. just as he’s about to hit the send button, he pauses.

 _‘hi taeyong?’ does that sound weird?_ scrunching up his lips, jaehyun hits the backspace button.

 _hi_. he stares at the word, then hits backspace again.

“hey,” he types. “um. smiley face? no smiley face? okay, smiley face.”

jaehyun sighs, and presses the send button before he can change his mind.

**jaehyun**

_hey :)_

**taeyong**

_are you free tomorrow to meet up for the project?_

jaehyun grins down at his phone.

**jaehyun**

_yup, i’m free haha_

**taeyong**

_ok._

taeyong’s typing. jaehyun’s bottom lip somehow finds its way between his teeth, and he bites down, worrying the flesh as the dots in the chat bubble move back and forth.

**taeyong**

_where do you want to meet up?_

jaehyun’s eyebrows furrow, and he pushes up the rims of his glasses.

**jaehyun**

_uh i don’t rlly know any places? haha_

_i just moved here lol_

**taeyong**

_oh._

**jaehyun**

_yeah lol_

jaehyun stares at the screen. the typing bubble doesn't appear. he places his phone down on top of his notebook and continues to stare. still no typing. jaehyun’s fingers jump around and tap against the edge of his desk. he glances at the clock.

still.

typing.

 _but he read it?_ jaehyun thinks. he huddles closer to the phone. _maybe he’s busy. maybe he’s doing something. maybe he put down his phone and-_

the dots pop back up. he sighs in relief.

**taeyong**

_do you want to meet up at the boba shop near the library then?_

_it’s called neo cafe._

jaehyun remembers seeing a neon sign spelling out that name in the window of a red brick building from the time his aunt had taken him (and a complaining donghyuck) to the plaza near their house. they were strolling through the plaza when donghyuck finally raised his head from his tablet to excitedly pointed to the store window. of course, jaehyun’s aunt turned him down with a firm shake of her head, and jaehyun held in a giggle as donghyuck started sulking.

**jaehyun**

_okay, sounds gud :))_

_what time???_

**taeyong**

_3:30? afterschool._

**jaehyun**

_okie, i’m down haha_

**taeyong**

_ok._

jaehyun giggles, setting his phone back down.

“okay,” he says out loud. _okay_ —  “wait, not okay. i sound like a fucking john green novel.”

he shudders, and glances down. his phone screen had gone black, but unsolved integrals stares back at him.

jaehyun grins again. “awesome,” he mumbles and picks up his pencil. “not a date.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok yeah i'm a liar and procrastination is my middle name so instead of studying for my exam, i've been writing out this chapter. promised myself i won't write anymore this week tho, so the next chapter will probably come out next week. tysm to everyone who's reading this, i'm so surprised people actually like this i'm--


	3. three

“earth to jae.”

jaehyun startles when he realizes johnny is waving a hand across his vision. across from them, ten looks up from his phone in amusement.

“what?” jaehyun asks.

johnny shakes his head and leans back. “i was asking you if there’s gonna be a quiz in physics today.”

jaehyun blinks, taking time to regather his brain cells. “oh yeah, there’s a pop quiz.”

“shit. gotta cram then,“ johnny pulls a face and opens up his textbook. he rapidly flips to a bookmarked section. “wait, how many points is it?”

“20 points?”

johnny stops flipping. “is it going in the quiz category?”

“no, it’s gonna be in assignments.”

with a whoop, johnny slams his textbook shut. the sound is drowned out by hubbub of the cafeteria, conversations buzzing with exclamations and laughter. “nevermind, i don’t have to cram after all.”

ten rolls his eyes and flicks a napkin at johnny. “aren’t you the poster child for class valedictorian,” he drawls.

johnny opens his mouth for a quick retort but ten switches his attention to jaehyun, whose eyes have wandered back to the other side of the lunchroom. or more specifically, a certain boy who’s sitting at a corner table, laughing at something on his phone as his friends seem to be putting on a demonstration of the heimlich maneuver.

ten sighs. “hey, maybe you could stop with the edward cullen thing and stop staring at taeyong.”

jaehyun’s eyes snap back to their table. “shit.” 

it’s not like ten is wrong. jaehyun’s eyes can’t help but drift towards the boy. he had spent the entirety of literature, the only class he has with taeyong, much to his chagrin, staring at the back of the boy’s head while their teacher had launched into a fit about the merits of manipulation in twelfth night.

next to him, johnny lets out an obnoxious laugh. “my man’s been whipped since day one.”

“not. whipped,” jaehyun bites out. from the corner of his eye, he can see taeyong getting up, an arm now linked to taeil’s. 

ten arches an eyebrow. “yeah, and the nile isn’t just a river in egypt.”

“what.”

“because y’know, ‘the nile’ and ‘denial’ sounds simila _ — _ “

“okay ten, you can stop trying. your jokes suck,” johnny cuts in. he scrunches up the napkin ten had flicked at him and throws it back across the table.

ten deflects the attack and sticks out his tongue. “you have no tastes. lucas appreciates my jokes.”

johnny lets out a weary sigh. “of course he does.”

“who’s lucas?” jaehyun asks. 

johnny’s eyebrow pinch, his shoulders stiffening as he pulls out his phone and hunches over it.

“my boyfriend,” ten says. “he goes to a private school in downtown, not here.”

johnny mumbles something. 

“uh, what did you say?” jaehyun asks.

johnny straightens up and place his phone on the table. “i said, yeah, he’s a sophomore.”

“when are you going to let that go,” ten sighs. 

“what?” johnny fires back. “i didn’t say anything. i just said he’s a sophomore.”

“yeah, but why did you have to say it in  _ that way—“ _

_ “ _ what _ way—“ _

“woah, guys, chill,” jaehyun says. the two boys stop, mouths open and poised to argue back. jaehyun raises a hand. “just. relax.”

johnny is the first to lean away. he slumps back into his seat, eyes moving to fixate on his closed textbook.

jaehyun looks back and forth between the two.  “guys. come on.”

ten sniffs.

“okay, fine, i’m sorry about bringing it up,” johnny mutters.

ten sniffs again, and crosses his arms. “maybe i overreacted. sorry.” but his voice isn’t apologetic at all, the words minced and bitter as they hang in the air.

johnny just nods, eyes still fixed on the bold letters spelling out “conceptual physics”.

_ well shit _ , jaehyun thinks,  _ what now? _

to his luck, the bell decides to ring. lunch is over. 

johnny ducks his head as he hurriedly shoves his book into his backpack and zips it up. he throws a quick “bye” over his shoulder and walks off, before jaehyun has a chance to even return the greeting. ten remains, slowly rising out of his seat with his tray. the corners of his mouth are tight, tilted in an downward direction. he dumps out the content of his tray and turns to look at jaehyun.

jaehyun stares back dumbly.

“good luck on your date, edward,” ten says. he slings his backpack over his shoulder and gives jaehyun a tight-lipped grin, before disappearing in the crowd students leaving the lunchroom.

jaehyun sighs.

  
  


the door jingles when jaehyun pushes through. despite the somewhat grungy exterior of the red-brick storefront and the blinking neon sign, the interior of the cafe is overwhelmingly pink. one wall is covered by a floor to ceiling wall mural in white paint, complete with the entire cast of sanrio characters. another is plastered with polaroids, many featuring couples that have visited the cafe. jaehyun breathes in the scent of brewing tea and lets the door close behind him, shutting away the sounds of kids running down the block. the cafe is quiet but not empty by any means. half of the tables are occupied by people jaehyun vaguely remembers seeing at school.

after a quick glance, he spies taeyong leaning over the counter, having a conversation with an employee. it’s yuta, jaehyun realizes, as he turns back around and catches jaehyun’s gaze.

“oh hey,” yuta says.

taeyong swivels around. his eyes latch onto jaehyun. 

“hi,” jaehyun says. he smiles, showing off his dimples.

“uh, hey,” taeyong mumbles back. he pushes off from the counter, only to shove his hands into his pockets. jaehyun looks down. apparently taeyong had woke up in the morning and decided to make breathing a little harder for jaehyun today, because he’s wearing pair of black ripped jeans, the fabric dark and tight around his thighs. jaehyun tries to not stare too much at the chain, which dangles from taeyong’s belt and around a particular patch of revealed skin.

“so, what can i get you?” yuta gestures to the menu behind him with a jerk of his chin.

jaehyun’s eyes widen as he scans the list of drinks, which seemed to boast about 50 different flavors of tea, all with slightly obnoxious names and even more obnoxious descriptions.

“um-”

“do you want a recommendation?” yuta asks. he hums to the music playing through the cafe’s speakers as his fingers tap on the cash register.

jaehyun looks at taeyong, whose attention has migrated to the phone in his hand, and back at yuta. “uh, yes?”

yuta arches an eyebrow. “is that a question?”

jaehyun pushes up his glasses and lets out a nervous laugh. “sorry, i haven’t ever tried bubble tea before and it’s a little overwhelming— what?”

taeyong was no longer preoccupied with his phone. in fact, both taeyong and yuta are staring at jaehyun now, their mouths opening to form little o’s. yuta lets out a gasp and jaehyun jerks in alarm.

“what?” jaehyun asks, his eyes jumping back to yuta.

the boy in question has one hand clutching his employee name tag, as if he was clutching invisible pearls. “you really are from connecticut,” yuta says in a stage whisper.

“um, yeah?” jaehyun replies.

taeyong snorts, and jaehyun’s head turns. taeyong had shoved his phone back into his pocket, along with his hands. “cut the theatrics, yuta.”

yuta rolls his eyes. “alright fine. do you want milk tea or fruit tea? or fruity milk tea?”

“…milk tea?”

“please respond in a non-question format,” yuta sighs. taeyong shoots jaehyun a grimace.

“sorry, milk tea.”

yuta nods approvingly. “okay, then i’ll put in an order of jasmine milk tea for you. 75% sugar and 50% ice?”

jaehyun nods, afraid to say anything else.

“—and with  _ boba _ ,” yuta says, punching in the order on his tablet. “ _ boba _ . not bubbles. please.” he taps at the screen a few more times, before extending a hand out to jaehyun. “that will be $4.50.”

jaehyun hands over a $5 bill and yuta deftly works the cash register. 

“your change is 50 cents. enjoy!” jaehyun grabs the receipt and change from yuta’s hands. he dumps the coins in the tip jar and doesn’t miss the small “fuck yes minimum wage” yuta lets out under his breath as he walks over to the kitchen area behind the counter.

taeyong guides him to a booth near the back of the store, complete with plush seats. taeyong’s books are already spread across the table, his laptop open to a window with a lot of boxes and buttons that jaehyun doesn’t understand. he squints to get a better look, but stops when he sees taeyong staring at him.

“s-sorry, i didn’t mean to look at your laptop—“ jaehyun stutters.

“it’s fine,” taeyong says with a wave of a hand. he starts stacking the strewn books and push them into the far corner. “i was just, um, working on some stuff while i was waiting for you to come.”

jaehyun relieves his shoulders of his backpack, dropping it down onto the booth next to him. “oh, i’m sorry if i kept you waiting.”

taeyong shakes his head, his eyes enlarging in alarm. “i didn’t mean it like that, i was just chilling here and uh—“ he cuts off. jaehyun looks at him, expectant. “i just mean, you’re not late. it’s fine?” one of taeyong’s hands had found it way to his head, and runs through his hair.

“okay,” jaehyun responds. he smiles at taeyong. “thanks for waiting anyways.”

taeyong nods, eyes fixed on the table. “yeah, no problem.”

silence lapses between them like a layer of film above the soft acoustic music of the cafe and murmurs of conversation, occasionally punctured by the sounds of yuta fumbling around with machinery. taeyong continues to keep his head down. jaehyun’s fingers play with the edge of his receipts. frustrated, jaehyun opens his mouth. at the same time, taeyong snaps his head up.

“so-“

“so-“

they both blink at each other, syllables hanging off their tongues.

“you go first,” jaehyun pushes out.

“uh-“

“you go first,” jaehyun repeats.

taeyong nods, and clears his throat. “we should probably start on our project.”

jaehyun shakes his head a little too enthusiastically in agreement. “yeah, do you have any ideas?”

“i have some?” taeyong says. he pauses to eye jaehyun. “have you finished the reading?”

jaehyun lets out a small, sheepish laugh. “maybe?”

“so you haven’t,” taeyong mutters. a small wrinkle appears where his eyebrows knit together.

jaehyun coughs. “i’ve finished the second act. and i read all the sparknotes when i was studying for one of the quizzes.” he reaches to unzip his backpack and pull out a copy of twelfth night, along with his laptop. “so i know the gist of the plot and all the characters.”

taeyong nods, the tension melting away from his face. “okay, that’s good.” 

just then, yuta calls out for jaehyun’s order and he gets up, shooting taeyong a small smile. jaehyun strolls over to the counter, where yuta is giving his drink one last good shake. with a nod at jaehyun, he slides the drink over to jaehyun, coupled with a big straw.

“thanks man,” jaehyun says.

“no problemo, connecticut boy.”

jaehyun holds in a sigh and just flashes yuta a grin, before turning to amble back to the booth. he plops down with the drink in his hand. it’s packaged in a thin plastic cup with sealed with a plastic lid on top, “neo cafe” spelled out in bubble letters. jaehyun sets down the straw and reaches for the edges of the lid.

“what are you doing.”

taeyong is staring at him in alarm, his eyebrows rising to his forehead.

“opening the drink?” it isn’t as much as a response as it is a question. he pauses, looking down at where his fingers are attempting to rip off the plastic seal. he looks back up at taeyong. “am i doing it wrong?”

taeyong nods, gravely. a corner of his mouth quirks, as if he’s trying to hold back a smile.  “very wrong.”

he takes the drink from jaehyun, sliding it to his own side of the table. jaehyun notes the way taeyong’s fingers brushed against his. 

“you’re not supposed to peel off the lid,” taeyong chides. “pass me your straw.” jaehyun complies and watches as taeyong pushes the straw out of its wrapper, then proceeds to stab at the drink with the pointed end. the straw slides through the lid and taeyong swirls it around, mixing up the boba that had floated to the bottom of the cup. he slides the drink back across the table. “that’s how you do it.”

jaehyun blinks. “woah. thanks.” and for the second time in the span of a minute, jaehyun is amazed because taeyong is smiling at him, eyes scrunching up in a crescent shape.

“you’re welcome,” taeyong giggles.

jaehyun smiles. “you’re a lifesaver,” he says and leans forward to take a sip of his drink, letting the sweet taste of the milk tea rise through the straw and into his mouth. it’s accompanied by the interesting texture of the boba, and jaehyun chews pensively, surprised at how much he likes it.

“do you like it?” taeyong asks, leaning closer. a tiny part of jaehyun’s brain screams at the decreasing distance between them. 

jaehyun means to nod, but he simultaneously forgets to chew and swallows the content of his mouth. suddenly, he’s choking, eyes bulging as his face burns bright red. he coughs into his arm, trying to will his body to stop convulsing.

“oh my god, are you okay?!” taeyong exclaims. he reaches for a napkin and thrusts it into jaehyun’s face.

jaehyun lets out another series of choking noises.

_ this is really it,  _ jaehyun thinks,  _ this is how i die. not from old age or disease but from choking on boba in front of a guy i like. this is how it ends. _

jaehyun’s starting to see patches of light as taeyong crowds his vision, his face contorted in concern. 

_ he’s so hot. at the very least, i get to die while seeing this face. _

then, a strong hand strikes the back of jaehyun’s back and the boba ball is dislodged. jaehyun coughs into the napkin taeyong had procured, relieved as oxygen starts pouring back into his lungs. he looks up to identify the source of the hand, only to see yuta smirking back.

“can’t let a customer die on my first week of the job,” he shrugs. “be careful, connecticut boy.” with that he saunters back to the counter.

jaehyun’s face is still red, and possibly getting redder as he notices the stares of other customers. 

_ maybe dying wouldn’t have been that bad, _ he reasons.

he ducks his head, sucking in a breathe of air.

“dude, are you okay?” taeyong is hovering over him, eyebrows pushed together in apprehension.

jaehyun lifts his head. taeyong’s chewing on his bottom lips, and his eyes immediately scan jaehyun’s face for any signs of further asphyxiation.

“i’m fine,” jaehyun manages with a weak smile. he sucks in another breathe. his vision is starting to clear now. “sorry about that.”

taeyong nods and sits back down, shoulders slumped in relief. 

“that was scary,” taeyong admits. his gaze still lingers on jaehyun’s face. jaehyun returns his stare, and notice the way taeyong’s eyes are poised to crinkle around the corners.

jaehyun out a weary exhale. “yeah, i thought i was gonna die,” he says with a small chuckle.

“that wouldn’t have been good. i’d have to work solo then.” mirth pulls at the edges of taeyong’s lips. 

“poor you,” jaehyun jokes, and taeyong is smiling again, his quiet laughter bouncing off the polyester cushioning of the booth. jaehyun really likes his smile.

jaehyun moves his drink to the corner, where he hopefully will not be tempted to choke on it any further. “so should we get started on that project now?”

taeyong nods.

they work as the hours lapse and customers come and go from the cafe. jaehyun discovers that taeyong likes to bob his head to the background music as he listens to jaehyun talk, tapping his pen along to the beat of each song. at first, their conversation is focused on what they should do for their project. eventually, it spirals into other topics as they split up to the research process. jaehyun learns that taeyong likes to read, although not shakespeare, and that he has very little tolerance for their literature teacher’s antics. he laughs as taeyong describes the time the woman had stormed into the classroom and delivered a “ten minute monologue” on the nature of cheating after someone had used a sparknotes summary in one of their essays. (“she called us all sociopathic criminals,” taeyong says with a roll of his eyes. “and then she made some weird analogy about robbing from a grocery store.”)

in turn, taeyong softly asks him questions about moving to california between discussions of which quotes they should use. jaehyun tells him about how his dad’s company needed him to occupy a position back in south korea and how his mom decided the best thing to do was to ship jaehyun over to california to stay with her sister until he graduates. taeyong nods along, as jaehyun talks about his amazement at the amount of asian students at their school, in comparison to his school in connecticut (“i was the only korean kid, among the three token asians,” he snorts). jaehyun particularly likes how taeyong will start laughing at his jokes before the punchline is ever delivered, his body hunching over his laptop as he descends into a quiet fit of giggles. it’s adorable.

the sun is starting to set when taeyong takes a glance at the clock on his phone. 

“oh shoot, it’s already 6:30,” taeyong says. “i gotta go, i have to babysit my little brother.”

jaehyun nods and closes his laptop.  “yeah, i have to be home for dinner too, or my aunt will hunt me down.”

taeyong giggles as he deposits his books into his bag and zips it up. jaehyun does the same, and then they’re both vacating the booth to throw away their empty drinks. yuta gives them a wave as they pass the counter.

“thanks for the drink,” jaehyun says, tossing the plastic cup into the trash bin. “it was really good.”

yuta nods approvingly. “of course it was.” he turns over to taeyong, who now has an earbud shoved into his right ear. “reply to my texts later.”

taeyong rolls his eyes but bobs his head nevertheless, the wire from his ear dangling from the movement. he tosses yuta a “bye” before he pushes through the door and jaehyun follows. the air is colder now, aided by the wind sweeping through taeyong’s hair, and the plaza is empty, save for a few pedestrians milling around on the benches.

“i’m heading this way,” jaehyun says and jerks a thumb towards his back.

“i’m this way.” taeyong points in the opposite direction. he pauses, hand dropping to grip onto a backpack strap. “uh, text you later? about the project.”

jaehyun smiles. “yeah, sure.”

“see you tomorrow,” taeyong mumbles, his mouth curling up. with a wave in jaehyun’s direction, he heads off.

jaehyun watches as taeyong turns down the block and then disappears from his sight.

  
  


that night, taeyong texts jaehyun just as he’s about to doze off on a pile of physics worksheets. he jerks awake at the notification tone.

**taeyong**

are you free to meet up on saturday?

we can work on the project at my house.

**jaehyun**

yea i’m free

i’m down with that :))

**taeyong**

_ ok. _

jaehyun stares at his phone. his fingers hesitate over the keyboard.

_ fuck it,  _ he thinks and keys in the message.

**jaehyun**

see u tmrw xD

**taeyong**

ok.

jaehyun blinks.

“well then.” his eyes jump to the copy of the cursed john green novel on his bookshelf. “maybe okay can be our always?” 

no one responds.

“yeah, nevermind.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anddddddd another chapter. tysm to everyone who's been keeping up with the past two chapters, y'all are the sweetest. im sorry if this chapter sucks and is ridden with grammatical errors. next chapter will be up sometime around next week if i'm not too busy drowning in procrastination!!!
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/WITCHB0YZ) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/supremekermit)


	4. four

jaehyun gets a text from ten just as he’s leaving the house.

**ten**

_yo wanna help me w smthing??_

donghyuck’s head pops out of the passenger window of the car, eyes narrowing at jaehyun. he whines, “hurry up, i’m gonna be late.”

jaehyun opens the car door and slides into the backseat. “dude, chill.”

“jaehyun’s right, honey,” aunt mina says from the driver’s seat. she turns on the engine and begins to back out from the driveway. “your class doesn’t even start for another 30 minutes.”

jaehyun hums in agreement. he buckles in his seatbelt, then shoots ten a response.

**jaehyun**

_yea sure, what?_

**ten**

_help me put up posters pls_

_imma be in the c building hall_

**jaehyun**

_aight_

“who are you texting?”

jaehyun looks up. aunt mina’s eyeing him through the rearview mirror, an eyebrow raised in interest. he quickly tucks away his phone in his back pocket.

“oh, it’s just a friend,” he replies.

donghyuck snorts. he’s slumped down on his seat, tablet open to what looks like tetris. “must be his boy crush.”

aunt mina’s eyebrow arches a little higher. “and who is that?”

“taeyong-“

“not taeyong,” jaehyun butts in. donghyuck pauses his game, the sound of 8-bit music still floating through the car, and turns in his seat.

jaehyun shoots him a glare through the opening of the seat. donghyuck smirks.

“so then who are you texting?” aunt mina interrupts. amusement bleeds through her voice.

“just my friend, ten. he wanted me to help him put up posters.” he looks back at donghyuck. “why do _you_ need to get to school so early?”

his cousin rolls his eyes and turns back around to resume his game. “mark said he was gonna show me somethin’.” he slumps down in his seat.

just as jaehyun opens his mouth to ask donghyuck what exactly “somethin’” is, their car pulls up to the school. jaehyun casts the back of donghyuck’s seat a pointed look before exiting the car.

“thanks for the ride aunt mina!”

“just make sure to stay safe in school,” she says, fixing him with a smile.

“i will.”

he finds ten next to a water fountain in the hallway, tip-toeing over it to smack a bright pink piece of paper to the wall. jaehyun taps his shoulder and ten lets out a yelp, the tape dispenser dropping from his hand to the fountain sink.

“damn it, you scared me,” he hisses.

jaehyun blinks, reaching out for the tape and handing it back over to ten.

ten sighs. “thanks.”

he moves back to where he was putting up the poster and slides his thumb back and forth over the tape to secure it. as soon as he’s satisfied, he pushes back on his feet, dusting off imaginary particles from his fingers.

jaehyun eyes the tall stack of posters sitting at ten’s feet. letting out a low whistle, he bends down to inspect the pile, which was at least half a foot too high.

“what’s all this for?” jaehyun asks, grabbing a paper from the top of the stack. he squints at the text printed in cursive font.

ten extends a hand and jaehyun obliges, letting the boy pull him up on his feet. “it’s prom stuff,” ten says.

“prom?” jaehyun places the paper back on the stack. “but it’s february.”

“yeah, and junior prom is in april.” ten bends down to grab half of the stack and plops it in jaehyun’s awaiting arms. he scoops up the rest of the stack, motioning for jaehyun to follow him.

“april? why so early?” jaehyun asks. he shifts his arm to make sure none of the pages drift off.

ten stops at a bench to yank off some tape and slap another poster to the wall. “i don’t know, that’s just kind of the way our school is? like, senior prom is in may before graduation, so junior prom is usually held in april.”

jaehyun moves dumps his stack on the bench and grabs a few posters to put up on the opposite wall. “that makes sense i guess, but why are there so many posters?”

at this, ten lets out a sigh. “our leadership president likes to go overboard. ‘no publicity is bad publicity!’.” he rips off pieces of tape and crosses the hall to stick them on jaehyun’s arm. “she just really wants people to buy prom tickets so we don’t lose money.”

“at the expense of suffering trees?”

ten nods somberly. it occurred to jaehyun then that johnny wasn’t around. jaehyun’s glad to have a bonding opportunity with his new friend, but the lack of johnny’s presence irks him, considering how he’s rarely seen ten or johnny without each other. his mind flashes back to their conversation from yesterday’s lunch and he stops to look at ten more carefully. the boy’s hair is unstyled today, his fringe flopping over his forehead and casting a shadow on slightly red eyes. when jaehyun looks down, he realizes that ten’s traded out his usual ripped skinnies for a pair of track pants. the shirt he’s wearing has paint stains at the edges of a sleeve.

“why are you looking at me like that.”

jaehyun frowns. “you look tired.”

ten rubs at his eyes with the back of his hand. “that’s because i am. mid-term season, leadership, dance, the whole shebang y’know.” he turns back around to adjust a poster.

jaehyun hesitates then blurts out, “how’s johnny?”

ten’s shoulders tense, rising up in agitation. jaehyun flinches, edging away in case ten might start yelling at him. instead, the boy takes in a deep breathe and lets out a weary sigh. his body sags, in the way a balloon deflates. letting the paper fall from his hand, he slumps against the wall.

“i don’t know,” he mumbles. “he’s not talking to me.” his eyes scan the hall, as if johnny might pop up in a corner somewhere.

jaehyun picks up the poster from the ground. “have you tried talking to him?”

ten is silent.

“ten.”

the boy in question rolls his eyes. “okay, so maybe i haven’t.”

“are you still mad at him?” jaehyun moves next to ten, taking off his backpack and letting it lie on the floor. “about the, uh, lucas?”

“the lucas thing,” ten echoes. his eyes moves to his nails, which he picks at in interest. “i don’t know why he had to bring it up. he always does that when i talk about my boyfriend, like, okay he’s a sophomore so what? he doesn’t have to pick on him all the time. i just don’t understand why that’s such a big deal.”

jaehyun thinks he understands. yet, he holds his tongue this time around because it’s not his place to say. instead, he offers ten a pat on the shoulder. ten blinks up at jaehyun and then he’s suddenly pulling jaehyun towards himself, wrapping his arms around jaehyun’s torso. jaehyun tenses from the abrupt touch, but relaxes as he sinks into the contact, arms coming up around ten’s back.

“you’re warm,” ten murmurs.

jaehyun hums. ten smells a little like one of those scented candles his aunt likes to light in the house. jaehyun thinks it’s lavender.

“you should talk to johnny.” ten stiffens in jaehyun’s arms. “i know i’m new here and it’s not my place to talk about your relationship but i think you guys should talk it out, yeah?”

ten burrow his face in jaehyun’s sweatshirt. he mutters something but it’s muffled.

“what?”

ten lifts his head and steps back, letting his arms drop from jaehyun’s waist. “i’ll talk to him,” he tells jaehyun, voice quiet. “thanks.”

jaehyun smiles. “good. you’re welcome.”

ten offers jaehyun a grin and soon they’re back to vandalizing the hallway. they don’t notice the figure standing at the edge of a corridor nor the way he turns his back, walking back the way he came.

  


as per usual, jaehyun spends the majority of the english conspicuously staring at the back of taeyong’s head. it’s a good distraction from the awkward silence at his table and the way ten taps his pen against his notebook while johnny’s eyes stay glued on his notes, only occasionally looking up to scan the board and scribble down bullet points.

at one point, taeyong turns around and he makes eye contact with jaehyun. it takes all the will in jaehyun’s body to not slide down into his seat, maybe to spontaneously combust. instead, he sends taeyong a dimpled smile. to his surprise, taeyong responds with a small smile before turning back to the board. jaehyun grins even harder.

when jaehyun shows up to lunch with a tray in his hand, ten is sitting alone, earbuds plugged as he stares down at his history textbook. the bell rings. johnny never comes. jaehyun offers to throw away ten’s tray for him and the boy nods his thanks. he hadn’t touched any of the food.

the next day is much of the same. during lunch, ten studies for a chemistry test while jaehyun scribbles out notes on newton’s law of cooling between bites of his sandwich. johnny still isn’t there. that night, jaehyun lies in bed and stares up at the ceiling. with a thought, he sits up and rummages for his phone underneath the pile of worksheets on his bed.

**jaehyun**

_hey dude haven’t seen u at lunch lately are u ok?_

johnny hasn’t read it. jaehyun chews on the bottom of his lips and flops back onto his sheets

**jaehyun**

_talk to ten, he’s freaking out_

it’s not an exaggeration. ten had skyped him last night for a study session only to spend the entirety of it crying on his calculus homework, while jaehyun attempted to console him through the screen. this morning saw ten walking into english with puffy eyes. jaehyun noticed the way johnny froze up when he saw ten’s face, before adamantly returning to his notebook.

with a final look at the screen, jaehyun sighs and then turns off his phone.

  


the next day, jaehyun stumbles into first period feeling like a three day old corpse. he’d lost his sanity somewhere between trying to memorize formulas at midnight and blinking wearily at trigonometric identities when the sun started to rise. he internally cringes when he sees taeyong looking at him curiously, probably at the bags under his eyes or the coffee tumbler in his hand. jaehyun offers him a weak smile and taeyong smiles back. the exchange seems to help circulate the caffeine through his blood or something, because jaehyun makes it to his desk without falling over. he slumps into his seat and puts his head on the table.

“dude, why do you look so dead?”

it’s johnny’s voice. jaehyun turns his head. johnny’s looking at him in concern while ten is furiously copying down johnny’s homework, tossing the occasional glance over his shoulder to make sure the teacher didn’t see him.

jaehyun smiles and sits up. the muscles in his neck groan in protest.

“chapter test in calc,” ten supplies in jaehyun’s stead and he nods, rubbing at the back of his neck.

johnny gives jaehyun a sympathetic look, before he smacks ten’s arm and tells him to hurry up.

jaehyun’s head falls back to the table. he closes his eyes and takes a nap.

  


as soon as jaehyun comes home, he takes off his glasses and crashes into his bed. he doesn’t even bother to pull the cover over himself as he drifts off to unconsciousness. when he wakes, he’s under his sheets and sunlight is filtering in through his open window. he squints at the brightness before rolling over to glance at his bedside clock.

10:35 AM. he’s been asleep for 18 hours and it’s saturday.

it’s saturday. he bolts up.

 _shit, i have a meeting with taeyong at 11_ , he thinks.

he all but trips out of bed and hops into the shower. the warm water feels good, washing away all the invisible grime accumulated from hours of staring at confusing integrals and functions. he quickly brushes his teeth and washes his face. after a quick look at his reflection, he grabs a razor and only nicks himself once as he shaves. clean-faced, he ambles back to his room to throw on some clothes and heads downstairs with his backpack.

“and so the dead walks again,” donghyuck narrates over his bowl of cereal. his eyes are glued to the tablet propped up on the table, watching some kind of superhero show.

jaehyun leans down to ruffle donghyuck’s hair. the preteen slaps away his hand, fixing him with a glare. jaehyun cackles and moves to give his aunt a peck on the cheek.

“sit down and eat breakfast,” she tells him in korean. “i made some eggs and there’s toast.”

jaehyun glances at the clock.

“i’m running late for a project meeting,” he says. he grabs a piece of toast from the plate on the counter and shoves it into his mouth. “gotta go.”

“do you want a ride—“

“nope, i can walk. bye!” and he’s running out the door, teeth still clamped around the toast.

by the time he makes it to taeyong’s house, which involved a great quantity of squinting at the GPS on his phone, he’s devoured the toast and there’s a light sheen of sweat building on his forehead. taeyong’s house is a bit bigger than his aunt’s, with a well-groomed bed of flowers and very green looking grass. jaehyun wipes the sweat off his palms on his jeans and rings the doorbell.

he hears a set of feet pounding towards the door before the entrance is jerked open to reveal a short kid, a basketball tucked under his arm. it must be mark.

“hi,” jaehyun greets.

the boy stares at him.

jaehyun’s just about to open his mouth and ask for taeyong when the boy yells over his shoulder, “taeyong! your project person is here!”

a muffled “what?” comes from the inside of the door and soon enough, taeyong’s at the door. he motions for mark to go back inside and the boy rolls his eyes, but complies.

“hey,” jaehyun says. “sorry i’m late.”

“no problem,” taeyong says, lips lifting into a smile. “come in. you can leave your shoes here.”

he points at a rack in the foyer. jaehyun toes of his sneakers and move them to the rack as taeyong closes the door behind him. when jaehyun looks up, he realizes taeyong’s staring at him.

“you look a lot better than you did yesterday,” taeyong notes, approvingly. he motions for jaehyun to follow him and then they’re walking upstairs, presumably towards taeyong’s room.

jaehyun laughs. “yeah, i pulled an all-nighter the day before for a calc exam.”

taeyong winces in sympathy. they stop at a door at the end of the hall and taeyong pushes it open. “sorry, my room’s a little messy.”

jaehyun gapes. the room isn’t messy at all. in fact, it resembles a picture from one of those home decorating catalogs that jaehyun’s aunt enjoys scattering around the house. in the corner is taeyong’s bed, perfectly made with fancy throw pillows. an organized desk sits at the adjacent wall, with shelves of books above it. the only thing slightly out of place is a pile of folded laundry that sits on an armchair, next to a small shelf of alphabetized cd’s.

“if you think this is messy, you don’t want to see my room.”

beside him, taeyong giggles. he grabs the pile of laundry and opens his wardrobe. jaehyun gets a quick glimpse of some intense color-coordination before taeyong closes it.

“you can sit here,” taeyong motions to the armchair. jaehyun sinks into the plush seat, letting his bag slump against his feet. taeyong sits opposite of him, on his bed, and tucks in his knees. for the millionth time this week, jaehyun thinks he looks cute. especially with those fluffy socks on his feet.

taeyong trails his gaze, and looks down. “don’t judge me, i get cold.”

“it’s 65 degrees fahrenheit outside?”

“still cold,” taeyong sniffs.

“wow, they’re right about californians being sensitive,” jaehyun snickers. taeyong makes a small pitched sound at the back of his throat in protest and jaehyun just laughs again.

he really likes taeyong, jaehyun realizes as they launch into a discussion of their project. it’s a little dumb for him to form a crush on taeyong as quickly has he had but the more time they spend together, the more adorable taeyong becomes. it’s the way he animatedly reenacts hysterical anecdotes about their english teacher, pitching his voice to imitate her shrill tone and flailing his arms. or the way he hunches over his colorfully bookmarked copy of _twelfth night,_ lips squeezed together in concentration. or the way he responds to jaehyun’s questions about the reading, voice quiet and confident as he explains certain terminology and historical context to jaehyun. call him whipped but jaehyun’s never found a person more gorgeous and charming.

they take a break for lunch, joining mark downstairs for home-made pizza that’s been sitting in the oven. jaehyun watches as taeyong chomps down on a slice and orders mark to stop playing with his phone to focus on eating. the kid lets out a long suffering sigh, but turns off his phone and places it down. mark flees to play basketball in the backyard after they’re done and taeyong insists on washing the dishes, so jaehyun leans against the counter and watches taeyong flit around the kitchen. he even looks hot with pink rubber gloves on, the sleeves of his sweater pushed up to reveal toned arms. it’s absolutely ridiculous. jaehyun is smitten.

their second break comes after another long hour of poring over shakespearean quotes and scanning sparknotes. taeyong had somehow found his way to the floor, a little bit closer to where jaehyun is seated in the arm chair, and sits criss-crossed. jaehyun looks up from his laptop to see taeyong’s shoulders shaking. he leans over to take a peak at taeyong’s phone.

“what are you watching?”

taeyong jumps a bit and looks back up at jaehyun. he scoots closer to him and angles his phone so that jaehyun can see the screen. it’s a cat, meowing. jaehyun’s eyes widen.

“woah, why does the cat sound like that?”

taeyong giggles, eyes crinkling. “his name is jack the cat.” the cat in name lets out a meow that’s so low, it doesn’t sound real. it gets taeyong giggling again. “he has something called laryngeal paralysis and his voice changed after getting surgery.”

“jack the cat with the low meow,” jaehyun says. taeyong laughs. he continues to watch the video, cooing everytime the cat lets out another meow and jaehyun watches him, mesmerized.

jaehyun: 0, whipped culture: 1.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the [cat video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7x_lWJNnNg) is dedicated to dannah
> 
> sister ao3 rlly crashed on me bc she didn't want this to go up but here it is!!! i literally wrote 95% of this chapter today so i'm sorry for any grammatical mistakes. a serious thank you to everyone who's been reading this and leaving kudos/comments/bookmarks/subscriptions y'all really make my day you have no idea <33
> 
> i have work and summer classes starting up next week but imma try to hustle on this fic and make it happen 
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/WITCHB0YZ) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/supremekermit)


	5. five

taeyong is livid.

“how does this make  _ any _ sense,” he hisses. his knuckles are white from the death clutch he has on the slip of paper in his hand. 

jaehyun cringes at the deep creases appearing at the edges of the paper, which looks like it’s going to be ripped at any moment.

“here, let me see that again,” he says, extending his hand.

taeyong’s still staring at the paper, eyes transfixed.

“taeyong.”

letting out a sharp, bitter sound, taeyong finally hands over the slip to jaehyun’s awaiting hand. jaehyun grips the paper and brings it close to his face, eyes squinting even though he already knows what it says.

taeyong lets out a groan, and buries his head in his arms. “this cannot be happening, oh my god.”

but it is happening.

if jaehyun thinks about it, the past two weeks have been great. to his benefit (and the amusement of his hovering friends), he and taeyong have become exponentially closer through the time they’ve spent working on the project. jaehyun soon learned, after their first meeting, that taeyong has a penchant for random animal videos. as the weeks lapse, jaehyun wakes up almost every morning to a message from taeyong, always a link to quality content like a kitten playing with bubble wrap or a dog driving a car. all this, of course, functioned without any accompanying text messages to explain why the hell taeyong would be up at 3 in the morning watching videos of a cat speaking korean.

jaehyun certainly didn’t complain. he’d watched every single link taeyong sent, some maybe multiple times, always replying with some commentary about the video. one time, ten had asked him what he was laughing at on his phone and jaehyun had tilted the device to a video of crab holding a knife.

“what the fuck is that?” ten had asked, incredulous.

johnny had just shaken his head and said, “whipped”.

it should be mildly concerning how the comment didn’t even phase jaehyun, who went right on to reply with heart eye emojis. but then again, jaehyun’s not one for complaining these days. not when taeyong greets him with a smile everytime he walks into english, his lips twisting into a crooked grin that sends jaehyun’s heart down a path of arrhythmia. not when taeyong’s eyes light up when he sees jaehyun in the halls, shifting the books in his arms to send jaehyun a little wave. and certainly not when taeyong is sitting across from him, or next to him, distance decreasing with every meeting they have until sometimes they’re so close, jaehyun can lean over and see the way taeyong’s eyelashes flutter.

so the last two weeks have been great. until now.

“seventy-nine out of a hundred,” taeyong moans into his knee.

jaehyun knows that no matter how much he squints at the writing, it won’t change. 79/100. that’s the grade they got on their project. a ‘c plus’, not even a ‘b minus’.

“that fucking bitch,” taeyong mumbles. his head whips up from where it was previously propped on his knee and before jaehyun could protest, taeyong snatches the paper out of his hands, narrowing his eyes at the barely legible handwriting in the margin. “‘despite the creative approach and thorough argumentation, the thesis is ultimately flawed. the project lacks a fundamental soundness,” he reads out.

a strained noise bubbles up from taeyong’s throat as he shakes the paper, hands crumpling the edges until jaehyun swears he can see a tear forming. 

they had been so confident. despite finishing a week earlier than their deadline, they (taeyong much more so than jaehyun) were zealous in making sure the final product was absolutely perfect. at taeyong’s suggestion, they’d decided on creating a video essay and jaehyun couldn’t count on all his fingers the amount of hours they’d spent agonizing over the project. he’d sat in awe as they camped out at the boba shop and he watched taeyong edit the video, the boy’s eyes razor sharp as he cut and pasted clips in sync to music, applying complicated transitions and essentially pressing a bunch of buttons jaehyun didn’t understand until yuta kicked them out. on the day of presentations, the class had burst into applause when the video ended and jaehyun noticed the way taeyong blushed as everyone assaulted him with compliments.

taeyong is now just as red. his face is flushed, the corners of his mouth turned down in a grim expression. today, his messy hair is hidden under a grey hood. he sits with his legs pulled to his chest, arms wrapping around his shin.

something tugs in jaehyun’s chest. he ignores it and scoots closer to the boy, until their hips are almost grazing.

“she’s totally wack,” jaehyun says.

taeyong just sucks in a breathe, then blows out. 

“taeyong, i’m not an ungrateful dumbass. you hard-carried this project, and we did amazing. we busted our ass on this and it turned out great. this stupid grade can’t tell us otherwise.”

if anything, taeyong curls up even tighter. the paper is almost a crumpled ball now, crushed in taeyong’s hand. jaehyun cringes. he’s in the midst of internally wishing for someone to fling him off a cliff when taeyong finally speaks up.

“i know,” he says. his voice is quiet, a barely audible whisper in the howl of the wind. jaehyun’s glad the park is empty, most people opting to stay inside during the sudden outburst of cold weather, because he might not have heard what taeyong otherwise.

“i’m just scared. i’ve been trying really hard to maintain all a’s this year, but this class been terrible and my grade is borderline. i don’t want this to fuck that up, especially when we worked so hard on it.”

taeyong looks so small like this, eyes pinned on something in the far distance as he talks. the squeezing in jaehyun’s chest intensifies. he finds himself edging closer.

“does it matter to your parents a lot?” jaehyun asks.

taeyong shakes his head, a few strands of hair flying free from the trappings of his hood. “no, they’re not really like that.” he pauses, biting down on his lips thoughtfully. “i just, i have really high expectations for myself, i guess.”

that’s an understatement. jaehyun’s seen the way taeyong zeros in on every single detail, relentless in his pursuit of making sure everything is done with utmost effort.

before jaehyun has a chance to say anything in response, there are tears welling up in taeyong’s eyes and jaehyun’s heart jumps in alarm. a tear falls, and then another, and then taeyong’s furiously wiping at his eyes, letting out a string of curses as the droplets refuse to stop.

“taeyong…”

the boy sniffles. jaehyun’s chest aches. ignoring the way his heart begins to pulse erratically or the cells in his brain scream at him in panic, jaehyun wraps an arm around taeyong, pressing the boy into his chest. he can feel the way taeyong tenses, but then the boy’s body is convulsing, contracting in a sob. jaehyun can’t help but to engulf him in his embrace.

they sit there for some time, taeyong tucked into jaehyun’s warmth as he cries into jaehyun’s sweatshirt. eventually, taeyong’s sobbing gives away to small sniffles. he sits up, drying his face with the sleeve of his jacket. jaehyun’s brain protests at the sudden lack of contact.

“thanks, jaehyun.”

jaehyun nods, hand still lingering close to taeyong’s. “anytime,” he replies.

taeyong clears his throat and turns to look at jaehyun. his eyes are still glassy, but he offers jaehyun a small grin. “sorry i’m a mess.” he looks down and cringes. “and sorry for crying on your sweatshirt.”

“don’t worry about it,” jaehyun says, waving off the apology. he pauses, mind still concentrated on the way taeyong’s hunched over, fingers playing with the laces of his shoes. 

he takes a breathe. “do you have plans this weekend?”

  
  


ten takes one look at jaehyun’s face the next day and says “spill”. that’s how jaehyun finds himself standing in the middle of his room, piles of clothes scattered around him as ten and johnny sit on his bed, chomping down on a bag of chips between them and telling him to spin around.

“i did not need your help,” jaehyun says, gritting through his teeth.

“shut up and turn so we can see your ass,” ten tells him through a mouthful of chips.

jaehyun turns.

ten clicks his tongue, while johnny hums with artful deliberation. 

“so?”

“yeah no, your butt looks flat in those,” says ten in a matter-of-fact tone. johnny nods his agreement. dusting off the chip powder from his hands, ten reaches down to a pile near him and yanks out another pair of denim, this one in a lighter wash and significantly more distressed. “do these instead.”

“are you going on a date?” a voice calls out.

jaehyun’s door is ajar now, revealing a bewildered donghyuck, eyes wide as he takes in the mess of jaehyun’s room.

“why didn’t you knock?” jaehyun sighs.

donghyuck shrugs, somehow taking that as an invitation to come inside. he kicks away at a pile near jaehyun’s bed and plops down on the floor next to ten.

“hi jaehyun’s friends!”

ten lets out a squeal and scoots over, motioning for donghyuck to sit next to him on the bed.

“are you jaehyun’s little cousin? you’re so cute!”

donghyuck looks smug as ten pinches at his cheeks and ruffles his hair. jaehyun can already feel the migraine forming at the side of his head. he takes the pants from ten’s outstretched hand and stalks to the bathroom, returning with an apprehensive expression.

“this?”

johnny lets out a low whistle as he turns around. donghyuck looks disturbed.

“perfect,” ten says. “your—“ he casts a look at an amused donghyuck and quickly covers his ears. “—ass looks hella fine.”

jaehyun rolls his eyes.

“what about your shirt?” donghyuck pipes up.

with a sigh, jaehyun walks over to his drawers and pulls them open.

“not that one.”

“nope.”

“no way.”

“yeah, no.”

“did you buy that when you were in fifth grade and kept it until now or—“

“dude, that’s  _ all  _ of the shirts i own,” jaehyun growls, throwing the last t-shirt from his drawers onto the floor.

“you have terrible tastes,” ten sniffs. jaehyun looks to johnny with pleading eyes but he just shrugs. ten continues,“lucky for you, i had the foresight to bring some of my own clothes.” he motions for johnny to pass him his bag, which he had flung haphazardly on the opposite side of jaehyun’s bed. humming, ten fishes around the bag until he finally brandishes a shirt and tosses it at jaehyun’s face. “hurry up and strip, loser.”

jaehyun grumbles as he pulls off his shirt and puts on ten’s. “better?”

ten purses his lips. “hmmm…. yeah.” he breaks out into a smile. “i’m a genius. now come here.”

it’s minutes later, after ten had shoved him onto a chair and enlisted the help of johnny to keep him there, that jaehyun runs a hand through his styled hair, only for ten let out a strangled screech and swat away his hand.

“what do you think?

“um, i look like you,” jaehyun says, as he narrows his eyes at his reflection in the mirror.

“exactly,” ten huffs. “isn’t that the point?”

“i look like a hypebeast.”

“a hot one,” ten says. “besides, taeyong himself is a pretty much a hypebeast. have you seen those balenciaga shirts? birds of a feather attract or whatever.”

johnny scrunches his nose.“um, i’m pretty sure that’s not how the saying goes—“

ten waves off his point. “yeah, yeah, okay. wait.”

“what?”

ten fixes him with one of those looks again, the one that share an odd resemblance to way jaehyun’s mom would’ve gazed at him when he was eight and came home trailing mud into the kitchen. “don’t be a dumbass.”

jaehyun pushes up the frames that have slid down his nose. “how so?”

“don’t scare taeyong off, is what i mean,” ten says with a long suffering sigh. beside him, donghyuck eyes the conversation with far too much interest.

jaehyun rolls his eyes. “how would i scare him off?”

ten shrugs.

“maybe don’t creepy-stare at him like you probably do all the time,” donghyuck suggests, only to let out a squeak when jaehyun pins him with a glare.

“you and your edward cullen ways,” johnny snickers. “okay, put down that comb, there’s no need to get physical—“

ten lets out a long suffering sigh and stands up to grab the weapon from jaehyun’s hand. “okay, break up the shenanigans, losers.” he places the comb on top of jaehyun’s dresser, then spins around to jab a finger at jaehyun. “remember what i said.”

jaehyun squints. “what?” ten looks back at him, unamused. “oh,  _ oh,  _ yeah—“

“it’s not—“ ten enunciates.

“it’s not a date,” jaehyun completes. “i know.” it’s just a hangout between two friends. he and taeyong are friends. it’s not a date, jaehyun knows, and he lets the words sink into his skin. ten looks doubtful, eyebrows pinching as his expression shifts into one of concern so jaehyun repeats it again, this time with more conviction.

“it’s not a date.”

  
  


jaehyun rubs the ticket stub in his hand, letting his finger catch on the perforated edge. they’re at the front of the concessions line now and he nudges for taeyong to order, the boy jerking to attention as jaehyun’’s hand taps on his arm.

taeyong had met him outside of the theater with his hair shoved underneath a beanie and a wide smile, waving enthusiastically as he approached. jaehyun’s heart lurched, a giddy feeling spreading through his chests.

“two sodas and…” taeyong trails off to look at jaehyun. “one medium-sized popcorn?” jaehyun nods, his pulse quickening. taeyong flashes him a grin and turns to confirm the order. just as taeyong’s about to pull out his wallet, jaehyun slaps a handful of bills onto the counter.

“i’ll pay,” he says, with a grin. “my treat.”

“but—“ taeyong pouts. jaehyun has to restrain himself from reaching out to pinch taeyong’s cheeks.

“i got it, don’t worry.”

the cashier looks back and forth between them, unamused, until taeyong finally gives a small nod. they scoot off to the side as they wait for their order. for some reason, taeyong keeps looking at jaehyun and then away, his eyes large and blinking. jaehyun finds his hand at the back of his neck, trying to rub away the warmth that has settled there.

“um, is there something on my face?” jaehyun asks, clearing his throat.

taeyong’s eyes enlargen and he shakes his head with vigor. “n-no, sorry, i just—“ he cuts off and looks to the sides, face sheepish.

“huh?”

“you look…uh, good today,” taeyong says, chewing on his lower lip. his eyes suddenly broaden. “n-not that you don’t usually look good!”

jaehyun laughs, startled at taeyong’s sudden outburst. “thanks,” he tells taeyong. the compliment lodges a warm feeling in his chest, making it a little harder to breathe. “you too.”

soon enough, they collect their snacks and file into the back of a theater. it’s fairly empty, being a movie that’s been showing for a few weeks now with an obscure sci-fi plot jaehyun doesn’t really recall. but then again, taeyong’s eyes had lit up when jaehyun asked him if he wanted to see a movie, and he’d immediately suggested this, so jaehyun doesn’t have any objections.

they spend the entirety of the trailers whispering amongst each other, exchanging remarks about the obnoxious nature of a narrator’s voice or how the entire plot of a film has been condensed down into an approved preview for all audiences. then, the movie starts and taeyong goes silent. his eyes glue themselves to the screen and he sits forward, almost in rapt attention. 

meanwhile, jaehyun is a bit distracted. to be fair, the movie is probably good, what with taeyong’s off-handed comment about its “95% rating on rotten tomatoes” and johnny’s whine about wanting to watch it, but jaehyun just can’t seem to focus. not when he’s busy watching taeyong.

the movie is approximately an hour and a half. jaehyun spends approximately an hour and twenty minutes tossing glances at taeyong, thanking conventions for the theater being dark. it’s an understatement to say he’s enraptured, but really, how could he stop staring when taeyong looks like  _ that? _

everytime the screen flashes bright, jaehyun is rewarded with the swell of taeyong’s lower lip as he gapes at a scene, or the adorable manner in which he holds his chin in his hand. if all movies were as engaging as the facial expressions taeyong makes, jaehyun would probably drop out of school to live out in a theater.

the credits rolls, just as jaehyun was preoccupied with tracing the sharp line of taeyong’s jaw and he blinks when he realizes taeyong is crying.

“taeyong, what’s wrong?” he asks, concern rising in his voice.

the boy sniffles, hand coming up to wipe away a tear. “n-nothing. the movie was just really sad, y’know?”

jaehyun doesn’t really know but he nods. for a moment, he halts, hesitation pooling as he looks down.

_ square the fuck up jaehyun _ , he tells himself.

and so he does, hand coming down on top of taeyong’s to give it a squeeze. 

taeyong looks at him, eyes shiny from the tears. jaehyun’s heart is pounding, expediting in speed, but there’s a part of jaehyun’s evaporating soul that sags in relief when taeyong doesn’t immediately jerk his hand away.

instead, he murmurs, “thanks jaehyun,” and squeezes back.

 

after they exit the theater, taeyong’s stomach grumbles and he sends a sheepish grin towards jaehyun. they stop at a small cafe that neither has ever been to, but taeyong parrots yuta’s recommendation. they both settle on sandwiches, jaehyun ordering a matcha latte while taeyong asks for a macchiato.

“the movie was  _ so _ good,” taeyong gushes, after swallowing a bite of his sandwich.

jaehyun nods and attempts his best at chewing thoughtfully. “yeah, i really liked the, uh, ending.”

apparently it’s a valid point because taeyong’s nodding his head enthusiastically, cheeks still full from the food in his mouth. 

“me too! i love the way it was written.” taeyong pauses, taking a sip of his drink. “i think some people would say that it was too vague and unsatisfying, but i think that’s the point? right?”

“yeah, you’re right.”

“i mean, the protagonist’s central conflict was already addressed. there’s no need for every single loose thread to be tied up perfectly, especially when there’s so much beauty in ambiguity.”

jaehyun refrains from telling him that he was too focused on taeyong’s beauty to focus on the ambiguous aspect of the storyline. instead, he hums his agreement.

“i think that movies, and just stories in general, should always have something left undone. it just breathes life into the work, because nothing really works out as a perfect happily ever after—“ taeyong cuts off with a self-conscious grin. he places down the half-eaten sandwich he’s been waving around and levels a shy glance at jaehyun.

“sorry,” taeyong says, “i get a bit excited when i talk about movies.”

“it’s fine,” jaehyun replies with a broad smile. he takes time in choosing his next words. “it’s really… cute.”

taeyong coughs, the sound small and quiet. “uh, thanks.” there’s a slight tint of red in his cheeks now, but maybe it has something to do with the warmth of the cafe.

eventually, their conversation ambles back to topics that don’t make jaehyun sit on edge, like everytime he forgets to his homework and attempts to complete it between strategically placed folders before he has to turn it in. time flies by in a flurry, filled with taeyong’s precious laughs and sunny smiles, before they’re leaving the cafe to head home.

“hey jaehyun,” taeyong says, voice quiet as they near the plaza, half-way between both their houses. 

“yeah?”

“thanks for asking me to hang out today. i had a lot of fun.” taeyong slows in his stride to flash jaehyun a smile, his eyes forming crescents.

“me too.” it’s an understatement. jaehyun really did.

there’s a pause between them, silence filling up the void as they continue to walk. it’s when they’re almost at neo cafe, tucked in a corner of the plaza that jaehyun’s brain short circuits and he reaches out, hand gently circling taeyong’s wrist.

“wait,” he blurts.

taeyong stops, turning to look down at jaehyun’s hold on his limb. “um, jaehyun?”

there are alarm bells going off in jaehyun’s brain. if this was a scene from that movie they were watching, there would flashing red lights and the sound of police sirens in the distance as all the brain cells in jaehyun’s brain writhe in fear, screaming out protests. there’s no reason why jaehyun should be inching towards taeyong, eliminating the distance between them as taeyong stares at him in confusion. he really shouldn’t. he really, really shouldn’t.

with a quiet gasp, jaehyun pushes his lips onto taeyong’s.

taeyong freezes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> like jaehyun, i have approximately 2.5 brain cells left. sorry if this chapter is a little all over the place, i'm trying to experiment a little more w/ style and slow burn kills me so i'm picking up the pace
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/WITCHB0YZ) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/supremekermit)


	6. six

“how’d it go?”

that’s what ten greets jaehyun with when he opens the door, eyebrows raised. jaehyun just pushes through wordlessly, shutting the door behind him, and marches up the stairs to ten’s room. when he enters, he finds johnny sprawled across ten’s bed, flipping through a novel.

“what the fuck?” johnny asks, shifting aside to let jaehyun flop down next to him. he looks to ten, who shrugs and shuts the door.

“you better open that mouth right now and talk,” says ten, sitting down at the foot of the bed.

“mfgrhhm.”

“what the fuck?” johnny repeats. he snaps his novel shut and sits up to stare the unmoving lump next to him. 

ten crosses his arms, face pulling in distaste. “jaehyun jung, spit it out.”

jaehyun moans something in response, but it’s still impossible to discern.

“what.”

there’s another muffled noise, this one decidedly more strained.

ten rolls his eyes, and motions for johnny to yank jaehyun up.

“stop, stop—“ jaehyun chokes, attempting to bat away johnny’s grip on his shoulder. “that hurts like hell, are you the hulk or something—“

johnny relents, loosening his grip with a sheepish smile. “sorry man.” then, just as quickly, his expression morphs into somberness. he crosses his arms, mirroring ten. “but seriously, what happened?”

jaehyun sighs, his hand comes up to run through his hair. “i want to fall into a ditch, that’s what.” he looks up, across the bed to ten, and blinks blearily.

ten narrows his eyes.

jaehyun nods.

“oh my god, jaehyun, you dumbass,” ten screeches, and lunges for him. he lands on jaehyun’s thighs, hands coming up to grab a handful of jaehyun’s hoodie and shake the poor boy. “i  _ literally  _ told you beforehand, ‘it’s not a da—“

“‘it’s not a date’,” jaehyun echoes, slumping in ten’s grip. he can feel the last of his soul evaporating, clawing its way out of his failing body as it screams in frustration. stupid jaehyun. stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid—

“just tell us what happened,” johnny demands, prying ten away from jaehyun before he could manhandle him anymore. the former seethes, but settles down into johnny’s side with an harrumph and nods at jaehyun to talk.

with a sigh, jaehyun begins at the point where it all went downhill.

  
  


taeyong freezes. jaehyun can feel his muscle tensing, seizing like he’s been electrocuted, his long eyelashes fluttering rapidly. his hands are falling to his side, and just as jaehyun is about to press a little closer, maybe make taeyong melt into him, a little squeak emerges in taeyong’s throat. 

dread. that’s what’s crawling up jaehyun’s spine, wrapping its way around his lungs and squeezing the air out of him. 

one look at taeyong’s wide eyes and it’s clear.

jaehyun has approximately 0.5 seconds left to make arrangements for a coffin.

he jumps away from taeyong, putting as much distance between them as he can without running down the block and screaming bloody murder. the boy in question is still blinking at him, eyes as large as ever, looking at jaehyun like he’s sprouted a second head.

taeyong’s mouth opens. “what—“

“i’m so sorry,” jaehyun’s blurting out. his face is on fire. jaehyun prays that he might just combust into flames on the spot. “i shouldn’t have done that, i’m so sorry, it was a spur of the moment thing, i just-” he cuts off. 

taeyong’s still staring at him like he’s a extraterrestrial creature, and behind the bewilderment, there’s a pull to his lips, a grimace jaehyun can’t quite label. regardless, that thought is drowned out by the screaming alarms in jaehyun’s head, the flashing red light in his vision because fuck, he really is a fucking fool.

taeyong’s opening his mouth again to say something, but jaehyun cuts him off with a fervent, shaking hand.

“let’s pretend that never happened.”

  
  


“—and you decided that the next best thing was to run away? to here?” the look ten is currently sending jaehyun seems to strike a delicate balance between complete bewilderment at jaehyun’s stupidity and complete anger at jaehyun’s stupidity. jaehyun winces.

“johnny, hold me back,” ten grits out. his hands hover towards jaehyun, and jaehyun eyes the sharpness of his nails with mild fear.

sighing, johnny pushes down ten’s claws. he turns to jaehyun, fixing him with an expression of concern.

“ten’s right. what kind of person runs away after planting a kiss on someone?”

“me, apparently,” jaehyun mumbles into the sleeves of his hoodie. he leans back against the headboard, knees coming up to curl into a ball. “i know i didn’t make it clear on the whole date situation—“

“you literally asked if he wanted to ‘hang out’.”

“—but i just thought it was going well. he really liked the movie, he couldn’t stop talking about it when we went out to eat afterwards.” jaehyun pauses, chewing on his bottom lip. “i don’t know why, but he was just so… cute. and when we were walking back, i thought, maybe i should just go for it.” his face falls, giving away to a quivering pout. 

“i really fucked up everything,” jaehyun whispers.

“oh honey.” ten’s expression softens, and he’s scooting next to jaehyun, fingers coming down to squeeze jaehyun’s hands. next to them, johnny wordlessly wraps an arm around jaehyun’s shoulder.

“it’s going to be okay,” ten murmurs.

  
  
  


despite ten’s best intentions, jaehyun knows things are very not okay. after a weekend spent alternating between stalking taeyong’s social media and screaming into his pillow, jaehyun walks into class on monday with bags under his eyes and apprehension clinging to his shoulders. taeyong’s head is down, focused on something in his notebook, but yuta looks up just in time to catch jaehyun’s gaze and narrow his eyes. jaehyun gulps, quickly breaking eye contact and scrambling into his seat. shit.

“hey, what’s up,” johnny greets, sliding into the desk next to jaehyun’s. ten takes a seat across from him, eyebrows scrunching at jaehyun’s pathetic state.

“you should ask what’s over,” jaehyun mumbles into the cold wooden table-top. 

johnny blinks. “uh, what’s over?”

“my life.”

even with his head down, jaehyun can  _ feel _ ten rolling his eyes. his suspicions are confirmed when ten stabs at his arm with the butt end of his pen and he jerks up, pouting.

“maybe your standard of living would drastically improve if you stop hosting your own pity party and start copying down notes,” ten drawls. he aims his pen at the long list of poetry terminology written across the whiteboard in an angry red. “you know,  _ education. _ ”

jaehyun flops back onto the desk with an exasperated sigh. “it’s over.”

soon enough, however, jaehyun’s antics are cut short by the bell, signalling the start of class. at ten’s insistent hissing, jaehyun resumes his status as a functioning member of society, if not to comprehend mcphee’s neck breaking delivery on prosody and scansion, especially at the threat of yet another exam. still, his eyes can’t help but occasionally betray him, sliding over to cast a glance at the boy on the other side of the room. jaehyun’s attempts at conspicuous staring go exceptionally well, if he does say so himself. well, until it doesn’t.

they’re in the midst of a discussion on scansion now, the teacher vigorously waving her hands around to demonstrate a distinction between amphibrachic and dactylic substitutions. jaehyun nods his head, wrist moving to scribble down bits and pieces of information for later review, but his eyes are suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to stare at taeyong’s bent over form for the umpteenth time. slowly, cautiously, jaehyun peels his eyes away his notebook and over to—

taeyong. taeyong, who’s looking at him.

jaehyun’s surprised he has bodily restraint to hide the shock that runs up his spine. then again, he also can’t seem to pull his gaze away, continuously staring at taeyong’s ever widening eyes. just as quickly as taeyong’s mouth falls open, he snaps it shut. it’s taeyong who breaks the contact first, jerking his eyes away from jaehyun’s.  

and maybe, jaehyun’s brain is really short-circuiting but he could have sworn taeyong’s eyes had darted to ten, before they’d been yanked away.

weird.

  
  


it’s not really like he’s trying to  _ avoid _ taeyong, per se. so maybe he makes sure to slink into english just a minute shy of the bell, because he knows taeyong is always the first to show to class. and yeah, perhaps he purposely looks down at his phone whenever he’s certain taeyong will near his table on the way to the lunch line. really, you can’t call it avoidance when everytime they accidentally catch each other’s eye, taeyong is the first to wrench away, the edges of his mouth tightening in an expression jaehyun can’t read.

avoidance is still what ten calls it, when he’s shoving jaehyun into the backseat of johnny’s car and slamming the door shut. 

“this is kidnapping,” jaehyun sighs, reaching for the seatbelt.

“no, this is an intervention,” ten snaps from the passenger seat, fingers jumping to the dashboard to turn on the radio. soon enough, music floods the car, some top 40 pop song crooning about lost love and broken promises. ten twists in his seat to fix jaehyun with furrowed eyebrows. “you’ve spent this entire week moping and skirting around taeyong, honey. we’re concerned.”

johnny hums as he makes a turn down the corner. “man, you looked terrible this week.”

jaehyun scoffs. “i feel terrible,” he mutters, giving a kick to the bag at his feet.

“which is exactly why we need an emergency hang-out session at johnny’s house,” ten responds. 

“no correlation,” johnny points out.

“just shut up and drive.”

contrary to what was advertised to jaehyun, they end up in the parking lot of the plaza, right in front of neo cafe. jaehyun wants to insist that they let him stay inside the car, but then ten’s at his door, opening it and yanking him out.

“order your own damn drink,” ten retorts, in response to jaehyun’s pleas. ten pushes jaehyun through the door, johnny trailing behind them.

the shop is uncharacteristically empty today, save for the employee at the counter. the employee turns around and jaehyun can feel his stomach tumble forward as he makes eye contact with yuta.

“uh, hi,” jaehyun says. he glances at the menu, but there’s no point in dragging this out when he would rather be lying in the trunk of johnny’s car, on his way to his burial. “can i get a jasmine milk tea, 75% sugar and 50% ice with boba?”

yuta’s nodding his head and tapping in the order, but his eyes don’t leave jaehyun even as ten steps forward to order or as johnny’s handing over his card. it’s only when yuta turns back around to fix their drinks that jaehyun can stop fiddling with his phone, shoulders sinking in a relief.

it’s a feeling that rapidly swirls down the drain when yuta slides their drinks over the counter, eyes boring into jaehyun. 

“thanks,” jaehyun says, reaching for his drink, only for yuta to jerk it out of his grasp.

“hold up.” yuta leans over the counter, a gleam in his eyes that has jaehyun backing away. “i need to ask you something.”

jaehyun chews on his lip, eyes jumping to his drink that’s just out reach. “what?”

“yeah, what?” ten says, sidling up to jaehyun’s side.

yuta rolls his eyes at the protective manner in which ten snakes his arm around jaehyun, but there’s another layer to his gaze that jaehyun can’t quite pinpoint. 

“chill out. i just wanted to ask you about taeyong,” yuta replies.

he hasn’t even drank anything, but jaehyun already feels like throwing up. ten’s grip on jaehyun’s arm tightens, and he can feel johnny’s curious eyes roaming to his back. “w-what about taeyong?”

if possible, yuta’s leaning even further across the counter, craning his neck as if to inspect jaehyun’s face. “you know exactly what i’m talking about. what happened between you two? he’s been acting super weird for the past week.”

jaehyun gulps, “why don’t you just ask him yourself?”

“you think i haven’t tried? trust me, i have. he just won’t to tell me.” yuta pauses, forehead creasing as he continues to stare at jaehyun. jaehyun stiffens, tension filling his shoulders. “okay fine, guess i won’t get anything out of you either.” he retracts his body, motioning for jaehyun to grab his drink.

“just,” yuta says as jaehyun’s about to dart out the door, “fix it. please.”

jaehyun stops.

“i won’t say anything else, but whatever happened between you two, fix it. i know taeyong won’t because that’s just how he is. he…” yuta trails off, before clearing his throat. “well, he’s not the best with people. but he’s been talking my ear off about you recently and suddenly, it’s like radio silence. i don’t know what happened, but, uh, you should do something about it.”

even though he’s talked to yuta on numerous occasions before, it’s the first time jaehyun’s ever seen such concern marring his face. his fingers tap against the counter in a sporadic rhythm. jaehyun hesitates, a jumble off his words begging to jump off his tongue but then he’s snapping his mouth shut, cutting off the conversation with a curt nod.

“okay,” is all he says, before giving yuta a hesitant wave and scrambling out the door, ten and johnny hot on his heels. the drive to johnny’s house is quiet and jaehyun’s grateful, staring out the window as the condensation of his drink freezes his hand.

  
  


“talk to taeyong,” is what ten tells him when they’re on their second episode of a queer eye marathon, lazily slurping on his milk tea.

“talk to taeyong,” is what johnny tells him when he stops in front of jaehyun’s house, and the latter thanks him for the ride.

“talk to taeyong,” is what donghyuck tells him with a smirk when he comes downstairs for breakfast the next day, sleep still in his eyes.

jaehyun’s hand stops from where it’s shaking cereal into his bowl. “how do  _ you _ know?”

donghyuck offers him a shrug and sets to tapping at his tablet. “i just do, duh.”

“did mark say something?”

all donghyuck gives him in response is another noncommittal shrug.

so, “talk to taeyong,” is what jaehyun tells himself on monday, as he’s walking down the halls, squaring his shoulders in an attempt to ignore the feeling of dread tugging at his chest.

talk to taeyong, talk to taeyong, talk to taeyong—

taeyong isn’t there.

jaehyun’s shoulder slumps in disappointment, and he drags his way to his desk. his eyes stay attached to taeyong’s seat, willing the boy to walk through the door any minute, but the seat stays empty, even as the dismissal bell rings.

he stops yuta on the way out the door.

“uh, hey, do you know where taeyong is today?” jaehyun asks.

“no, he hasn’t texted me anything,” yuta replies. smiling, he gives jaehyun a pat on the shoulder. “good luck, though.”

it’s not until lunch that jaehyun gets a glimpse of taeyong, when the boy is walking into the lunchroom and laughing at something taeil’s saying. just as jaehyun works up the courage to get up and stroll over, hopefully without combusting into tears, taeyong sees him. his eyes immediately widen, then flit away. jaehyun doesn’t miss the way he stops laughing, quickening his steps, or the way taeil look confused, until he glances in jaehyun’s direction, understanding dawning on his face.

“better luck next time,” johnny says, squeezing his shoulder.

jaehyun sighs.

 

 

the next time turns to be after school, when jaehyun’s turning down an empty hallway and spots taeyong hunched over his phone in a corner. sucking in a deep breath, jaehyun pushes up his glasses and strolls over, willing his face into some semblance of a smile.

“hey.”

taeyong startles, lifting his head with a jerk. “uh, hey.” he yanks his earbuds off, using the movement as a excuse to temporarily detach his eyes from jaehyun’s.

for a second, the words hang onto jaehyun’s tongue, unwilling to fall out of his mouth, and there’s only silence between, a uncomfortable tension. then, jaehyun clears his throat. “can we talk?”

the look on taeyong’s face says he’d rather not, but the boy nods his head. he mutters a quiet, “sure.”

“about the kiss.”

taeyong’s still nodding, but the tips of his ears redden. jaehyun can see the apprehension filling his eyes, tugging at the edges of his lips.

“i’m sorry that was…” he trails off, hesitating. no, jaehyun knows exactly what he wants to say, exactly what he should say. he’d spent the entire night tossing and turning in bed, planning out this entire monologue, damn it. there’s no reason for the correct words to seem obscure now, yet the way taeyong’s looking at him sets his heart at hammering pace, blood rushing in his ears. “i’m sorry, i shouldn’t have done that—“

“why did you kiss me?” blurts taeyong. his free hand jump to cover his mouth, as if surprised the question had come from himself.

jaehyun blinks in confusion. “w-what do you mean why?” he can feel heat rising up his neck, a tell-tale flush forming. “because i, uh, wanted to?”

apparently, that wasn’t the answer taeyong was looking for, because taeyong’s mouth is snapping open, then shut, then open. “no, i meant, why would you kiss  _ me _ ? don’t you already have a boyfriend?”

“what.” that’s news to jaehyun.

“you have a boyfriend, right?” taeyong looks up at him, eyebrows knitting in a frustrated expression. “ten.”

taeyong might as well have asked him if he’s married with two kids and a 9 to 5 job. “what?” jaehyun repeats, voice rising with incredulity.

taeyong laughs, but the sound is awkward, staccato. “aren’t you dating ten? i saw you guys one in the halls and you were all—“ he cuts off, flushing. “well, hugging and stuff.”

“i’m not dating anyone. especially not ten. ten is the one who has a boyfriend.”

the expression that dawns on taeyong’s face is one that jaehyun would like to immortalize in his mind, maybe even on a slideshow at his funeral. because somehow, taeyong manages to look adorable even as his eyes are practically bugging out of his head, jaw slacked like the air got slammed out of his back.

before he can stop himself, laughter is bubbling out of jaehyun’s throat. “oh my god, you thought i was dating ten.”

taeyong’s full out blushing now, hands coming up to obscure his face as he groans. “sorry, i just assumed…”

jaehyun continues to laugh, even as taeyong starts to pout. it’s only when jaehyun notices the trepidation flickering in taeyong’s eyes that he stammers to a stop, letting the reality of the situation sink in. 

right. the kiss. 

taeyong beats him to the punch, giving a little cough. “like you said though, can we…”

somewhere, beating inside jaehyun’s chest, there’s a little glimmer of hope. a tiny little light, telling jaehyun that maybe, taeyong’s misunderstanding might have been the only reason for his reaction. that maybe, taeyong could have liked the kiss and wouldn’t have found it all that weird under different circumstances. that maybe, there’s a chance.

jaehyun’s breath hitches in anticipation.

“can we just pretend that never happened?”

the light flickers out. 

there’s a sudden, stabbing feel that squeezes at jaehyun’s lungs, pain akin to asphyxiation. it’s all okay. really, it’s fine.

“yeah,” he says with a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “of course.”

the relief that floods taeyong’s eyes sends another jab to jaehyun’s chest. really, jaehyun should have known better. 

“friends?” taeyong asks.

“friends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fellas is it angst.
> 
> i was supposed to finish this chapter like nine hours ago but my favorite past time is lying to myself so here we are. thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with this fic and giving it their love, i am so, so grateful. it's a bit surreal, considering this is the longest i've ever committed to a work and there's only about 3 chapters left (hopefully). anyways, thank you so much for all the support and i hope y'all have a wonderful day!!
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/WITCHB0YZ) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/supremekermit)


	7. seven

somehow, jaehyun finds himself on ten’s doorstep again, this time with tears forming at the corner of his eyes. johnny only takes one look at jaehyun before he’s striding over to envelope him in a hug. (jaehyun tries his best to not bawl his eyes into johnny’s new supreme hoodie, but the attempt is rendered unsuccessful.)

when jaehyun finally blubbers out the entire story, ten lets out an incredulous laugh, sinking back into his chair.

“are you fucking serious,” he wheezes. “you and i? dating? in  _ this  _ economy?”

jaehyun nods, morosely. the expression on his face must be awful though, because ten’s flushing, attention flying to the invisible hangnail plaguing his left hand.

“i’m sorry, jae.”

jaehyun just shrugs, feeling like a rag that’s been wrung dry. “it’s okay, i guess. glad that misunderstanding got cleared up.”

ten and johnny share a look of disbelief, but they keep mum, pulling him close.

  
  


it’s taeyong who extends the olive branch two days later, in the form of a video of a fluffy dog toppling off a swing with an adorable expression. there’s a ‘lmao’ tacked on after the link, along with a set of laughing emojis. jaehyun smiles and sends back his own slew of emojis. there’s an odd lump in his throat. he swallows it down.

contrary to jaehyun’s expectation (and hope), the world does not come crashing down after he’s been catapulted into the land otherwise dubbed by johnny as the “bro-zone.” 

yes, that’s what they are now.

jaehyun and taeyong, two bros not sitting five feet apart in a hot tub because jaehyun is too busy trying to simultaneously drown in his own tears and reach the nth level of disassociation. when he shares the sentiment over a 2 am skype call, ten tells him that he’s being “reasonably melodramatic” through the pixelated screen. but when jaehyun slumps class the next day, ten slides over a chai latte with a nonchalant quirk of his brows.

despite the 24/7 open hours of jaehyun’s self-hosted pity party, things go back to a semblance of normal. he smiles to taeyong when they pass in the hall, and taeyong smiles back. they go back to texting at a regular interval, and occasionally, taeyong will twist around in his seat to catch jaehyun’s attention, rolling his eyes at whatever insane monologue their teacher is reciting for the day. 

this is good, is what jaehyun tells himself. there’s other things that require his attention, anyways, like the wrath of quickly approaching ap exams. or ten and his constant need to vent about prom preparations. 

“—i just cannot believe the catering company had the audacity to  _ cancel _ on us. joohyun might possibly be balding from the stress,” ten tells them over lunch. he takes a bite of his salad and lets out a shudder. “the last time i peeked at her laptop, there was a tab from a wig website. a balding joohyun is an even scarier joohyun.”

“why don’t you just find another company?” jaehyun asks.

ten chokes out a bitter laugh. “you are hilarious, bread boy. what do you think i’ve been trying to do for the past fifty minutes?” he all but shoves his phone at jaehyun’s nose, for jaehyun to squint at the list of sent emails in the open application.

johnny whistles, hand coming up to pat ten’s shoulder. “don’t choke on your salad now.”

“fuck you,” ten hisses. he shrugs out of johnny’s touch, oblivious to the awkward expression that flashes across johnny’s face. it’s gone as quick as it manifested, replaced by a nonplussed smirk that has the edges of johnny’s eyebrows rising, obnoxiously.

“anyways,” ten continues. “what are you going to wear?”

jaehyun blinks. “wear? to what?”

“to prom, duh. show me a pic of your tux.”

“hah, what makes you think i’m going to prom? i haven’t even bought a ticket.” he pauses, letting his eyes flick to the corner of the lunchroom, where a particular boy is laughing at something on his phone. jaehyun has no doubt he’ll see whatever video it is soon. “it’s not like i have a date either.”

ten narrows his eyes. “honey, what makes you think you have a choice in this? you’re going.”

“are you kidding me?” jaehyun splutters. he looks to johnny, eyes wide. johnny shrugs.

“do i look like i’m kidding?”

“no way am i going to pay $60 for a ticket when i don’t even want to go to,” jaehyun says, crossing his arms.

ten rolls his eyes, waving his fork in the air. “why would you pay when i can sneak you in for free, in exchange for labor? and you are definitely going. end of discussion.” he clicks his tongue when jaehyun opens his mouth to protest. 

great, there was no way jaehyun’s escaping out of ten’s clutches now. he tears into his cookie with a pout. “do you have a date?” he asks, absentmindedly.

“of course. lucas is coming.”

jaehyun gulps, eyes darting to johnny to check his reaction. nothing. the boy is still bent over his textbook, seemingly indifferent to the conversation. yet, the pen in his hand looks like it’s about at a moment’s notice.

“i’ll finally get to introduce him to you,” ten chirps, eyes shining in excitement.

“uh, yeah, that sounds good i guess,” jaehyun mutters, eyes still fixed on johnny’s pen. he shifts his attention back to ten. “but seriously, do i  _ have _ to go?”

ten ignores him, in favor of tapping away at his screen. jaehyun sighs.

  
  


of course, there is not a single day where the world does not actively attempt to wear away at jaehyun’s sanity. jaehyun is half convinced that some masochistic divine power up there gets off on throwing the monopoly dice and letting his life spiral down reading railroad because damn, this really isn’t it.

“another project,” he mutters under his breath. “really?”

mcphee clears her throat from the front of the class. “this time around, i will demonstrate great  _ generosity _ and allow you to pick your own partners.” she sniffs, snuffling out the excited murmur that bubbles through the classroom. “the essay will be due next week, no exceptions.”

jaehyun holds in a groan. great, as if he wasn’t already suffocating under the weight of two tests and a presentation, he can now add an eight page essay to his list of things to cry about tonight, preferably after he simps to songs that are definitely not produced by a certain ‘ty’. 

jaehyun looks up to ten and johnny shooting him apologetic smiles. ten’s already jabbing at something in his notebook and johnny’s bobbing his head along. so, jaehyun has no partner. unless…

he looks across the room, to where taeyong is scribbling down notes. as if on cue, the boy lifts his head and smiles, nodding his head to jaehyun’s unasked question. 

the bell rings then, and jaehyun packs up, heading out to wait for taeyong. the boy exits the class a few seconds later, eyes lighting up when he sees jaehyun leaning against the lockers with his dimpled smile.

“hey,” taeyong says, shifting the books in his arm to pull on the straps of his bag.

jaehyun reaches out, taking the books from taeyong’s clutch. “here, let me hold it for you.”

taeyong flushes, stuttering out a “thanks” as he twists around, rearranging his bag until it sits on his shoulders properly. he motions for jaehyun to plop the books back into his outstretched arms, but jaehyun just shrugs and walks ahead, still cradling the books.

“um, i can hold it-” taeyong starts.

“nah, i got it. your next class is close anyways right?” jaehyun desperately hopes that doesn’t imply he knows taeyong’s schedule or anything, because god, how weird would that be? to his his relief, taeyong just nods, a grateful expression settling on his face. “so we’re on for the essay?”

taeyong nods again, hair flopping over his eyes. “yeah, i’m free this weekend if you’re down?”

“yep.” jaehyun slows to a stop as they near taeyong’s class. it must be the close proximity at which taeyong stands, looking up at him with those big doe eyes, that has jaehyun’s brain short-circuiting. he clears his throat. “we can do my house this time around?”

“sounds good.”

  
  


it’s anything but good, jaehyun realizes two days later when he surveys the post-apocalyptic landfill that is his room. there are dirty clothes strewn all over the floor, and the pile of probably clean laundry sitting atop his chair is threatening to topple. jaehyun lets out a strained noise as he leans down to pick up an empty juice box, throwing it into his wastebasket with vehemence. 

that’s the exact same sound that emerges from donghyuck later as he scrubs at jaehyun’s desk with a disinfecting wipe, a scowl printed on his face.

“tell me again why i’m helping you clean your room,” the preteen moans. he scrunches his nose at the grey matter accumulating under the towel.

“because i am paying you $50,” jaehyun grits out. he’s on his knees, the carpet chafing at his skin while he pushes the vacuum machine into whatever accessible crevice underneath his bed.

donghyuck sniffs distastefully. “capitalism strikes.”

“just shut up and dust the shelf, karl.”

  
  
  


“hey, are you going to prom?”

the question has jaehyun’s pencil falling out of his grip, rolling across taeyong’s floor before he scrambles to snatch it up. taeyong giggles, deft fingers reaching out to grab the damned object and offer it to jaehyun’s awaiting hands.

they’re sitting in jaehyun’s room, which now looks cleaner than it has ever been since the day jaehyun moved in. from the moment taeyong had rang the doorbell, jaehyun all but decking donghyuck aside to open the door, until now, jaehyun’s been positively on edge. the cells of his body felt like they might spontaneously denature as he’d led taeyong down the hallway to his room. much to jaehyun’s chagrin, taeyong had giggled at a passing framed picture of ten year old jaehyun, wearing a stubborn pout as he holds hands with an even tinier donghyuck.

and now they’re side by side at jaehyun’s desk, inches away from each other. jaehyun hopes that taeyong can’t hear the way his breath catches.

“prom?” taeyong repeats. “are you going?”

“uh, yeah,” jaehyun replies. “ten’s making me go to help him out.” he pauses to squint at his laptop. there’s an odd pressure that flits through jaehyun’s stomach at taeyong’s mention of the event, but he dismisses it in favor for nonchalance. 

“do you have a date?”

awkward laughter catches at jaehyun’s throat and tumbles out. “no, of course not. are  _ you _ going?” 

taeyong hums, chewing on his lips. “i’m not sure yet.” he reaches behind jaehyun to grab a document from the floor and flips through it distractedly.

“oh,” is all jaehyun’s dumb brain can respond with.

“yeah.” and just like that the conversation ceases, tapering into silence. jaehyun’s not exactly sure what he’s supposed to make of this dialogue, if he’s supposed to be saying something else, so he sticks to clicking through wikipedia tabs and scratching out the occasional bullet point. soon enough, the tension fades, replaced by the sound of keyboards clicking and taeyong’s pen tap-tapping against his knee.

it’s not until taeyong lets out a small yawn that the peace ends, interrupted by the noise of jaehyun’s heart splintering into a thousand pieces when taeyong stretches his hands above his head in the single most adorable act jaehyun has ever seen. he’s reminded a cat video taeyong had sent him last week.

“break?” taeyong asks, sheepish smile gracing his face.

“god, yes,” jaehyun says, shutting his laptop. “i thought my eyes were going to fall out from the amount of times i had to read about henrik ibsen cheating on his wife.”

taeyong laughs, and as per usual, jaehyun’s heart performs its arrhythmic antics. “this is gonna be rough. as if we aren’t already dying with ap’s right around the corner, she really had to slap on this whole mess and make our lives even worse.” he sighs, rubbing at his dark circles.

jaehyun has no doubt his own face was in any better condition, but yet he blurts out, “you look really tired. are you okay?”

“probably?” taeyong gives him a tired smile. “i stayed up working on a song instead of doing homework and before i knew it, it was 4 am.”

jaehyun’s jaw drops. he always knew taeyong worked hard on his music, but this is the first time he’s truly heard about the extent to which taeyong pushes himself. he’s horrified. “take a nap. like, right now.”

“i’m okay,” taeyong giggles, batting away the suggestion. he reaches for his water bottle, taking a swig before slumping down in the chair. “i’m pretty happy actually, i got pretty far with the production.” he pauses, taking another gulp, before looking at jaehyun with a tentative expression. “do you wanna, uh, hear it?”

he might as well have asked if grass is green. “of course.”

after tapping around his laptop, taeyong pulls up a file. jaehyun’s practically vibrating in his seat, leaning closer to peer at the screen.

“it’s still a little rough,” taeyong explains as he types something and hovers the mouse over the play button. click. a quirky little beat emerges from the speakers, quickly accompanied by sharp snares that has jaehyun bobbing his head. as the song progresses, jaehyun can only take it in with awe, words escaping him. 

the song ends too soon, cutting off into silence.

taeyong fiddles with his fingers, then looks up at jaehyun with apprehension. “what do you think?”

“dude,” jaehyun breathes. “this is—good. it’s so  _ good _ , taeyong, holy shit.”

taeyong breaks out in a smile that has the caterpillars in jaehyun’s stomach shaking in their cocoons. “i’m glad you like it,” he giggles, hand carding through his bangs.

“yeah no, i really love it. it reminds me of one of your other songs? i think it’s called yesterday—”

“wait. you’ve listened to my other music?”

jaehyun’s mouth snaps shut. shit. “um.” 

taeyong’s eyebrows are rising, as is the panic in jaehyun’s chest because really, how does he explain the fact that he might have made a new soundcloud account just to like and repost all of taeyong’s songs? it’s certainly not a conversation that will get jaehyun anywhere, except maybe a juvenile center alongside a court-ordained restraining order. “i, uh, saw the link in your instagram and clicked on it.” a partial truth.

“oh,” taeyong replies, understanding dawning on his face. he nods his head, and jaehyun has to internally contain the cooing that begs to jump out of him as tufts of taeyong’s hair fluff around. 

he opts to smile. “yup. you’re really talented, taeyong.”

taeyong flushes at this, face splitting into a beautiful, shy smile. “you think?”

there’s no false flattery when jaehyun says, “i know.”

  
  


the essay progresses over a slew of meetups and midnight skype calls that always end with taeyong laughing at whatever dumb joke jaehyun types into the footnotes of their document, jaehyun wheezing along. even as jaehyun can barely keep his eyes open on a daily basis to scrawl out integrals and derivatives, he’s happy. it’s not say that he still doesn’t have a huge crush on taeyong that threatens to pop his heart every time taeyong so as much as smiles in his direction, but still, he’s happy. 

everything spirals down in a whirlwind of redbull, cram packets, and grade calculator applications. somewhere in the midst of it all, they finish the essay, handing it in with a shared smile. then there are last minute quizzes to study for, presentations to bullshit, random homework assignments to copy down before they’re due in five minutes. the worst of junior year is a hold-up that takes everyone hostage. johnny has taken to muttering about brewing his coffee with bleach during their lunch breaks that have mostly turned into cram sessions. meanwhile, ten simply types on his laptop at a speed of a thousand words a minute, composing anything from complaint emails about an incorrect shipment of party streamers to lab reports for ap bio. even in his default state of exhaustion, jaehyun has a sneaking suspicion that ten must regularly inject five hour energy into his bloodstream to keep up his juggle act so well.

when the weekend hits, jaehyun all but collapses into his bed. before he could realize, he’s already falling asleep, his corpse of a body sinking into the soft sheets and plush pillows. somewhere in his sleep-addled brain, he makes a mental note to thank aunt mina for her impeccable tastes in interior decor before the rem cycle claims him, pulling him into a deep sleep. 

when he wakes up, it’s dark and his vision is blurry. he rolls over, grunting at the ache in his shoulder. blinking haphazardly, he gropes for his phone, only to let out a pained groan at the sudden flash of brightness from the screen. 

1:49 AM. it’s all he can see, choosing to ignore the slew of notifications that he can barely make out sans glasses. screw it, he’s not well-rested enough to deal with them right now.

with a sigh, he tosses his phone back down and snuggles further into his blankets. life can wait.

  
  


“oh my god,  _ hyung. _ ”

jaehyun groans, pulling his sheets over his face. donghyuck, this little brat, waking him up from his beauty sleep. he lets out a whine at the sun filtering through the room. it’s way too bright now for him to hop back on his little merry boat to dream land, where he was very much not making-out with taeyong thank you very much.

“shut up, it’s too early for this,” jaehyun mumbles.

“no,  _ hyung _ , you need to get up  _ right now. _ ”

the honorific has jaehyun rolling over, cracking an eye open at the sight of donghyuck sporting a shit-eating grin, looking practically poised to jump off the walls. distant alarms go off in jaehyun’s head. donghyuck almost never calls him  _ hyung _ ; even with all of his mother’s prodding and insistence, the preteen had always melodramatically huffed into his tablet about oppressive hierarchical systems and freedom of speech. 

“what is it,” jaehyun moans as he manages to prop his torso against the headboard. he reaches out for his glasses, putting them on and squinting at donghyuck in distaste.

the giggle the younger boy lets out is nothing short of perturbing. his eyes glimmer in a way they have no business of doing, inspiring a sudden rise of nausea in jaehyun’s stomach. he hasn’t even eaten.

“check your phone,” is donghyuck’s only reply.

“what—“ jaehyun jumps as his younger cousin all but stomps over to his bedside, rummaging through the mess of sheets before triumphantly shoving the phone into jaehyun’s chest.

“hurry up,” donghyuck whines, “i need to go and facetime mark.”

“what the hell,” jaehyun hisses, eyes darting back and forth between his cousin’s face and the screen as he unlocks the device. “i don’t know what you’re even going on about—“

he stops short, eyes widening at the notifications that flood his screen. ten and johnny had texted ( _ 119 unread messages _ ), along with a handful of others that he usually doesn’t hear from. even yuta, who usually texts him once in a blue moon to ask about homework, had sent a message. jaehyun decides to open the group chat. safest option first.

 

**ten**

bitch

bITCh

what the FUCK

**johnny**

bruh

[my longest yea boi ever]

**ten**

jaehyun wake up u insufferable wet towel O M G

**johnny**

this is hella cute???

ty is so talented

**ten**

yea it is im actually dying omg where is bread boy

jaehyun u hoe!!!!

get UP

the high school musical jumped out

**johnny**

damn, we rlly gotta wait for jaehyun to wake up :(((

**ten**

sbdsahbjd i hate this :((

 

he rapidly scrolls through the messages, eyebrows furrowing as more of the same continue, what with ten alternating between telling him to wake up and keyboard smashing, while johnny shares vaguely relevant spongebob memes. shaking his head, jaehyun exits out the chat. there’s another notification that’s more important, one that sets his heart at a trap drop bpm as he taps on it.

 

**taeyong**

?

 

below the vaguely ominous question mark, there’s a link.

“soundcloud?” jaehyun asks under his breath. apparently it wasn’t conspicuous enough, because donghyuck begins to nod enthusiastically, flapping a hand at jaehyun.

“open it, open it, open—”

“what—”

“oh my god, just  _ open it _ ,  _ hyung _ .”

“okay, fine, i’m opening it, chill out,” jaehyun says. his finger hovers over the link, hesitation pooling at the pit of his stomach. “what’s the big deal?”

donghyuck rolls his eyes, before sighing exasperatedly. “well you would find out if you just  _ opened _ it—”

jaehyun taps the link. it leads him to what jaehyun’s bleary eyes can only assume to be a new track from “ty”, titled with the exact sinister punctuation mark as taeyong’s text. jaehyun gulps, clicking play.

soon enough, a familiar sounding beat floats through jaehyun’s room. as jaehyun eyes the manner in which donghyuck looks like he might combust from unexplained excitement, he’s struck with the realization that it’s the same track that taeyong had shown him before, from their meeting. except this time around, taeyong’s voice is layered on top. maybe he’s a little bit too focused on the little raspy edge of taeyong’s voice to really focus on the lyrics, but he does manage to catch the mention of “someone who tugs on the strings of my heart”. the brozone is a good place for disassociation, jaehyun decides as he nods his head to the beat of the song.

“we went on a date, only i didn’t know,” taeyong raps.

jaehyun blinks, alarmed.

“you bought me tickets and held my hand after the show. dumb ol’ me just couldn’t fathom but here goes.” 

jaehyun’s breath hitches as the beat cuts off, replaced by quiet radio static. then, in a tone so soft it might as well have been a whisper:

“jaehyun. prom?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really wrote a soundcloud promposal with my own two brain cells... no words for my clown antics. also i literally just finished writing this (it took far longer than i'd planned), so if there are terrible typos, i'm so sorry. wanted to get this up b4 my bday tho so yay!!! hope y'all liked it <3
> 
> as always, tysm for reading this! feel free to send me any questions/head-canons/customer complaints on my cc
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/WITCHB0YZ) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/supremekermit)


	8. eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, this is still a thing.

“is this-”

donghyuck cuts jaehyun off with an over dramatic sigh, raising a crooked hand to his forehead. “is this the real life? is this just a fantasy? caught in a landslide, no escape from-” he lets out a muffled shriek as a pillow catches him square in the face, sending the preteen stumbling to the ground.

“what the fuck,” jaehyun hisses. his eyes are wide, hands shaking as he stares down at the cursed screen of his phone. there’s that question mark again, staring back at him with clearly ominous intent. he pinches his arm, then whips around to stare at the calendar sitting on his desk. no, he’s not dreaming.

“yo, bro,” a crackly voice speaks from the foot of jaehyun’s bed.

“mark!” donghyuck squeals in response, waving haphazardly at his phone. “jaehyun saw it, i woke him up and he listened to taeyong’s promposal and-”

promposal. right, that’s what it’s called. a promposal from a guy who jaehyun has been harboring one-sided feelings towards for the past several months. the same guy who’d told him he wanted to be just friends, after jaehyun had jumped him with a kiss. a _promposal_ from none other than taeyong lee, right on the day before prom.

this can’t be real.

“wait, is that donghyuck?”

jaehyun startles, jolting up in his bed at the voice.

“yeah, it’s hyuckie-”

“is, uh, jaehyun there?” taeyong cuts in. even through the terrible audio quality, jaehyun can hear the apprehension that leaks through. it sends a spike of electricity through jaehyun, and he doesn’t realize what he’s doing until he finds himself snatching the phone from an outraged donghyuck (“this household is a freaking nightmare!”) and shoving his face into camera.

“hi.” he’s breathless, for absolutely no reason.

or maybe there is a reason, because taeyong looks as beautiful as always, even in a moving mosaic of pixels. his hair is but a mess, fringe flopping over his eyes as he stares into the camera.

“jaehyun,” taeyong says. his face splits in a tentative smile, and no, it’s too early in the morning for jaehyun’s heart to be racing this fast.

there’s a shuffle in the background, murmurs that sounds like mark chanting, “bro, just _go_ for it, drake said yolo for a reason,” before a crashing sound ensues. the screen stutters into black. in a split second, taeyong’s back and smiling sheepishly into the camera.

“sorry about that.” he pauses, eyes darting to a space behind the camera before looking back with hesitation. “did you-”

“yeah,” jaehyun replies. “yeah, i did.”

taeyong blinks, eyebrows slightly furrowing as he stares through the screen. “oh. uh, what do you—”

“meet me at the park?”

  


 

 

he’s breathless for sure now. after haphazardly throwing on the first things he saw in his closet, jaehyun had nearly tripped on his untied shoelaces as he sprinted down the block, rubber soles slapping against the concrete. when he finally makes it to the neighbourhood park, there are beads of sweat forming at his forehead and his calves are aching.

still, everything dulls as his eyes focus on the figure sitting on a park bench, fidgeting away on his phone. there’s a hat tugged over taeyong’s head, obscuring the messy nest he’d worn during their earlier conversation. one hand sits at the brim and his fingers run across the curved edge, absent-minded.

it’s not until jaehyun clears his throat that taeyong startles, nearly jumping a foot in the air.

“hi,” taeyong squeaks.

“hey.” jaehyun’s arms hang at his side, unsure of where exactly he should be. taeyong stares at him, apprehension in his eyes before they light up in realization. frantically, he scoots over and pats at the open space of the bench. jaehyun obliges, sitting down.

complete silence. that’s what stretches between them, taught and wary like an old rubber band. stretching and stretching until there’s a snap.

“i thought you didn’t like me.”

the words are out before jaehyun can shove them back down his throat and swallow them away with the rest of his pride. it’s not him who cringes though, edging away like they stung his skin.

“i can explain,” taeyong says. his voice is almost a stage whisper, which would be absolutely comical if he didn’t look like he was going to pass out on the spot. something in taeyong’s pinched expression must pull at jaehyun’s chest because he relaxes, letting out a breathe before he nods at taeyong with what he hopes is a reassuring smile.

“this is going to sound really stupid, but then again i’m just really stupid and i don’t know how to do this, i just- okay, i’m sorry, i’m rambling.” taeyong sucks in a deep breathe, before pushing it out with a sigh. “i thought you were dating ten, at first, when i saw you guys hugging in the hall. it was super shitty of me at the time, but when we started hanging out, i guess… i started to like you. and i didn’t know how to feel about that, trust me, i felt so guilty. i convinced myself that nothing would come out of it, so i just tried to put a hold on my feelings. then out of nowhere, you kissed me.”

taeyong’s cheeks become increasingly more pink as he plows on with a cough.

“i thought you were dating ten, so i panicked. and when you told me you weren’t, i just panicked even more. and somehow… we got here.” taeyong vaguely gestures at the air in front him. “i know this is really random, me asking you to prom after basically rejecting you, and if you don’t want to go, i totally understand that and-”

he cuts off with a yelp as jaehyun closes the distance between them, lips on lips. there’s a split second, when taeyong’s eyes are wide and jaehyun freezes, dread pooling at the bottom of his stomach. but before jaehyun can pull back and beg the earth to swallow him whole, taeyong melts , plush mouth pushing against jaehyun’s own.

it’s a chaste kiss, one that sends both of them blushing as they pull away.

“is that a yes?” taeyong asks. his fingers come up to nervously graze the shot of metal on one ear.

jaehyun laughs, looking up at taeyong with a small smile. “i don’t know, is it?”

taeyong’s expression morphs into one of panic, mouth parting as he gapes at jaehyun.

“i’m joking.”

“oh, thank god.”

jaehyun rolls his eyes, hands slipping down to envelope taeyong’s. they’re just as soft as they are in his most embarrassing of daydreams. it takes everything in his will to feign a nonchalant tone as he looks back up at taeyong, who’s wearing the most obscenely pretty smile on his face. “although maybe you deserve it. what were you going to do if i said no?”

“probably stay home to rip up my ticket and cry over an ap prep book,” taeyong mumbles. he doesn’t look in jaehyun’s eyes as he says this, choosing instead to fixate on their intertwined hands.

if jaehyun isn’t careful, his heart might just beat its way out of his chest. that definitely won’t be good. instead, he clears his throat, working a teasing smile back to his lips. “at least you asked me before tomorrow.”

at this, taeyong lets out a soft giggle. “you’re right. at the very least, i asked you out the day before prom.”

jaehyun shrugs, smile playing at his lips. “it could’ve been worse.”

  


 

 

“see, here’s the thing, i like taeyong, but who the fuck asks someone out the day _before_ prom?”

“well clearly not you,” jaehyun sniffs indignantly. “especially seeing as you don’t have a date.”

“tape,” is all johnny responds with.

jaehyun complies, ripping off a bit from the roll to place in johnny’s outstretched hand. the boy lets out a small “thanks” before reaching back up to secure a streamer in place. once it’s safely attached, johnny lets out a triumphant hum, before ambling down the step ladder to fix jaehyun with a scowl.

“so what?” johnny asks. his hand moves to pull at latch on the ladder. “i wouldn’t even go if ten wasn’t forcing me to.”

“right,” jaehyun says with an arched brow. “because of ten.”

there’s a loud snap as the ladder folds. johnny tucks the metal contraption under his arm, scowl deepening. “i am so not having this conversation with you right now, bread boy.”

“first of all, i do not look like bread,” jaehyun sputters, picking up the box of streamers at his foot. he trails after johnny as the latter stalks away to the other side of the room, picking up his pace to catch up with johnny’s long legs. “second of all, how long are you gonna do this?”

“do what?”

“the whole, oh i don’t know, desperate and silent pining over your best friend thing?”

johnny stops short in his stride, nearly sending jaehyun to the floor with his box of sparkly plastic. “i have no idea what you’re talking about,” johnny says, face schooled into impassion as he leans the ladder against the wall.

jaehyun snorts, dropping the box to the ground to cross his arms. there’s something about exam season that makes him especially ballsy, willing to tackle conversations he’d never have if all his neurons were in order. “oh yeah? what do you call all those kicked puppy looks you send-”

“ten.”

speak of the devil. when jaehyun turns, he’s greeted with the sight of the boy in question, a clipboard in his hand and a tired smile on his lips. “hey, did you guys finish with the streamers?”

“yup, we’ve covered the entire left section,” johnny says with a nod.

“oh, awesome.” ten brandishes a pen from his side to make a mark on that ten page document of his. “can you guys also take care of the star decorations? they’re in that big box by the entrance.” he motions to the auditorium door, where indeed, a large cardboard box is situated.

“for sure,” jaehyun replies. he pauses, taking in the dark circles that hang under ten’s eyes. “hey, are you okay?”

before ten can respond, however, johnny magically procures a water bottle and shoves it in his face.

“drink,” he orders, and to jaehyun’s surprise, there’s no sign of snark when ten grabs the bottle before draining half of its content.

“thanks,” he says, shoving for the bottle back with a grateful smile. “make sure you find me when you’re done.” with that, he takes off, rushing down the corridor to cross off yet another task on his never ending list.

“yikes.”

“exactly,” johnny sighs. “he’s up to his ears between classes and extracurriculars. yesterday, he texted me good night at 4 am. i just don’t know how he does it, but he’s managed the balancing act for the past three years.”

“so that’s why you won’t just bite the bullet and confess?”

johnny lets out a laugh, the sound bitter and harsh. “he’s happy with that lucas kid. who am i to make things complicated?”

even with two functioning brain cells, jaehyun can tell things are already complicated. but he opts for a nonchalant shrug and says, “let’s get to those decorations, then.”

  


 

 

“did you buy a corsage?”

jaehyun frowns, running a hand through his styled hair.

“a what?”

“a corsage?’

“a corset?”

the pained sound donghyuck lets out from his perch on jaehyun’s bed is nothing short of earth-shattering. “a cor _sage_ , you uncultured swine.”

jaehyun turns to fix his cousin with a raised brow. “what’s a cor _sage_?”

“your bow is crooked,” donghyuck replies with a roll of his eyes. “and it’s that flower thing people tie around their wrist.”

jaehyun blinks. “um—”

donghyuck shakes his head and flaps his hand at jaehyun. “okay, you know what, i give up. just go, you’re gonna be late.”

“shit, you’re right,” jaehyun says with a cursory glance to the clock. he pauses, fingers coming up to fix the black bow around his neck. the polyester fabric of jaehyun’s suit pulls at his shoulders and he cringes at the reminder that the last time he wore this, he was at least three inches shorter.

“have fun,” donghyuck drawls as he follows jaehyun downstairs. “don’t do anything i wouldn’t do,” he continues with a wiggle of his brows.

“you are twelve and disgusting,” is all jaehyun can manage to hiss before the front door closes behind him.

the drive to taeyong’s house sees jaehyun switching from radio station to radio station before settling on silence with a frustrated huff. his aunt had been kind enough to lend jaehyun her car, paired with a well-intentioned threat of removal from her will should jaehyun somehow manage to fuck things up.

after avoiding a run in with a haphazardly placed trash bin, he pulls up to taeyong’s house, heart thumping. the steering wheel feels plasticy under his fingers as he slows, then cuts the engine.

the house is the same as it’s always been, with a neatly groomed lawn and white shutters that sandwich bright windows. the moment jaehyun rings the doorbell, he has half a brain to turn back around and drive himself straight to connecticut.

the door opens. “‘sup, jaehyun.”

“hey mark,” jaehyun says, mustering up his best smile. “is your brother here?”

the preteen nods, tufts of hair bouncing enthusiastically. “taeyong’s just upstairs gettin’ ready.” he tosses a conspiratorial glance over his shoulder before beckoning jaehyun closer. “actually, he’s spent the entire day getting ready but y’know, don’t tell him i said that ‘cuz he’ll like ground me—”

there’s a loud sound then, a commotion of footsteps stumbling down the stairs as a strained voice shouts, “mark lee!”

the young boy pales, blinking owlishly at jaehyun. “you never heard anything from me. promise?”

with a solemn nod, jaehyun mimes zipping up his mouth and throwing away the key. it’s all swell until the moment he lays eyes on taeyong and suddenly, his jaw is on the floor.

jaehyun would like to personally thank god for the magical experience of being able to witness taeyong’s beauty in person. even if he had all his brain cells in order right now, he still wouldn’t be able to find enough words to give justice to the sight in front of him.

taeyong is a work of art, a painting of sharp lines and dark hues, tinted in the sheen of his velour blazer. jaehyun can see it, the hours of effort, in the careful coif of taeyong’s hair, the kohl smudged around his eyes, the shine of his lips as his mouth parts.

it gets worse.

he’s wearing a choker.

“hey.” the painting talks. and smiles. “you look good.”

“you too,” jaehyun chokes out. “you look amazing.”

even as he feels his immune system take a sharp dive, jaehyun must be doing something right because taeyong flushes, ring-adorned fingers coming up to touch the cross that hangs from one ear. “thanks.”

this needs to end. the longer jaehyun stands on taeyong’s doorsteps and revels in the magnificence of his existence, the longer he subjects himself to the possibility of cardiovascular issues at the early age of seventeen. jaehyun clears his throat, covering up his inability to breathe with a well-practiced grin. “ready to go?”

  


 

the car ride is, unnervingly, quiet. jaehyun means to ask taeyong if he wants to turn on the radio, but somewhere between the first and third intersection, taeyong’s lips pull into a grimace and jaehyun decides he should just focus all of his attention on not killing them both.

it’s not until taeyong starts humming that jaehyun finally snaps out of his staring match with the stoplight.

“that’s the song,” jaehyun says with realization.”the one you used for the, uh, promposal.”

taeyong stops. “yeah, it is.”

“i love it,” jaehyun admits, hands gripping the steering wheel as traffic whooshes by. “i mean, aside from the fact that you asked me to prom, it’s just a really well-produced song. you’re like, amazingly talented.”

it’s a moment before taeyong responds, in a quiet voice. “i’m glad you like it.”

when jaehyun works up the courage to tear his eyes away from the rearview mirror, he’s struck with the sight of taeyong’s smile, the adorable crinkle of his eyes as he looks at jaehyun with appreciation.

a car honks.

jaehyun coughs. “no problem.”

  
  


 

a problem happens approximately 20 minutes later, after jaehyun barely manages to squeeze the car into the venue’s parking lot without scratching off any paint. all the while, taeyong’s knuckles grow increasingly white.

when they finally stumble into the venue, taeyong lets out a small gasp. “wow, this place is decked out,” he murmurs.

decked out is one way to put it. jaehyun grins, as if he could take some credit for his part in hanging up the streamers. really though, it’s all thanks to ten and his meticulous planning. sheer fabric drapes hang from the ceiling of the ballroom, accompanied by the strings of fairy light and iridescent cutouts. the student council had opted for a buffet dinner and had even set up a mock bar in the corner of the ballroom, where an ice sculpture of sits as a centerpiece. it’s a breathtaking sight.

jaehyun spots johnny from a distance, the boy towering over the crowd with a scowl on his face, and waves him over.

“hey, you’re lookin’ good, dude. where’s ten?”

johnny’s scowl deepens, if possible. “i don’t know,” he says, tersely. “have you seen him?”

jaehyun furrows his brows. “no, i just got here. what’s wrong?” beside him, taeyong shifts, looking between jaehyun and johnny with curious eyes.

johnny lets out a sigh, hands coming up to rake through what must have been carefully styled hair. his voice is tight as he speaks. “it’s the lucas kid. he just… didn’t show up,” johnny grits out. “ten called him, asking where he was, and the asshole had the nerve to say he forgot they were supposed to go to prom. who the _fuck_ forgets they had a date to prom?” johnny is practically growling at this point, each word dripping in venom as his eyes flash. then, like a punctured balloon, he deflates, letting out an exhausted sigh.

“ten ran off after, and now i don’t know where he is.”

“i’ll help you find him,” jaehyun volunteers. he looks over at taeyong, apprehension rising, but it dissipates when he sees the boy nodding, expression bearing concern.

“i’ll help too,” taeyong says. he reaches out, placing on johnny’s arm. “johnny, take a deep breathe, yeah?”

johnny stares at the hand, a little taken aback, but quickly ducks his head with a nod. “i- thanks,” he says, sucking in a breathe. “thank you guys. call me if you find him.”

with that, johnny takes off, weaving his way through the crowd of attendees with a deft stride.

jaehyun turns to taeyong, a sheepish smile on his face. “sorry about this, if you just wanna wait while i look for ten and then we can-”

taeyong cuts him off with a fervent shake of his head. “no, no, it’s fine. i’ll help you search.” he pauses, offering jaehyun a smile. “ten is my friend too, you know.”

he can’t argue with that. instead, jaehyun says, “okay. let’s go.”

  


 

“this place is surprisingly big.”

“tell me about it,” jaehyun says, craning his head to look at every crevice of the foyer. they’ve been wandering for a while now, after combing the entire ballroom with little success. pulling on elbows had led to a string of possible way ten could have gone, the most definitive being the index finger joohyun had pointed to the ballroom exit. so now they’re here, searching, careful to not disturb any overly enthusiastic couples hounding the corners.

“i don’t think he’s here either,” taeyong sighs. he squats down, lips pulling into a pout. (jaehyun finds it adorable.) cupping his chin in his hands, taeyong lets out another sigh, before suddenly blinking like a bulb has lit in his head. “wait. isn’t there supposed to be a garden area?”

“yeah, i think it’s in that direction.”

taeyong stands, dusting his knees. “we should check it out, he might be there since he wasn’t anywhere else.”

they turn down the corner, strides in almost perfect sync before they reach the entrance of the garden. it’s dark out, but the path through the greenery is illuminated by strung lanterns. the garden seems empty, devoid of animate life, but they take their chances.

“ten?” jaehyun calls out. taeyong echoes him, voice soft and tentative.

just then, jaehyun hears a murmur of conversation and he turns to taeyong, eyes wide. they continue to walk quietly, before the voices become louder and jaehyun abruptly stops, sending taeyong bumping into his back.

“sorry-”

“ten, i can’t deal with this anymore.”

it’s johnny’s voice, jaehyun realizes. without thinking, he ducks behind a bush, yanking taeyong with him.

“oh yeah?” ten’s voice is oddly pitched, strained like he’s been crying. “and what is that, exactly?” a peek at him from the safety of the bush reveals ten with red rimmed eyes, wiping at his tear-stained cheeks. jaehyun can’t make out johnny’s face from this position, but he can see the tension that rises in his shoulder and seeps through his clenched palms.

“this.”

_oh my god._

beside jaehyun, taeyong lets out a gasp. jaehyun can barely believe his own eyes because holy shit, johnny’s _kissing ten_.

“holy shit,” jaehyun whispers. he stares, eyes bugged as ten freezes, then melts into the kiss. his arms wind around johnny’s neck, pulling him down for more.

with difficulty, jaehyun peels his eyes away from the scene to raise an eyebrow at an equally shocked taeyong. “hey, wanna get out of here?”

  


 

“i can’t believe we paid $50 each to ditch,” taeyong muses. the parking lot is quiet, save for the murmurs of noise from the party inside. they walk side by side, the sleeves of their jackets barely touching. the air is warm tonight, a hint of the summer to come, and jaehyun exhales, letting some of his worries float away.

“well, technically, i didn’t pay,” he offers.

taeyong lets out an indignant sniff. “this is corruption.”

“i offered labor as compensation,” jaehyun shrugs with a grin.

they reach jaehyun’s car and just as jaehyun moves to unlock it, a hand comes up to gently grip his arm.

“can i drive?”

jaehyun stops, eyeing the apprehensive grin that stretches across taeyong’s face. “uh, why?”

taeyong sucks in a breathe, before letting out a shaky breath. it’s tinted in mirth. “don’t take this the wrong way but you drive like my grandmother.” he pauses, taking in the way jaehyun blinks in incredulity. “and she’s like, 80 with ailing vision.”

“…are you calling me a bad driver?”

“maybe?” taeyong pauses, pointedly staring at the key in jaehyun’s hand. “c’mon. let me take you on an adventure.”

taeyong’s smile is really convincing. that’s what jaehyun tells himself as he’s sliding into the passenger seat, fingers coming up to pull at the bowtie around his neck loose.

“it’s uncomfortable,” he explains when he catches taeyong’s eye. the boy just hums, a little smile pulling at the corners of his lips, and then the car engine’s roaring to life, dials lighting up in the darkness.

jaehyun won’t admit it but by the time they safely pull out of the parking lot, he’s glad he’s not the one behind the wheels. taeyong’s a good driver, far better than he might ever be. the realization that taeyong might just be a perfect human being strikes jaehyun as he catches himself admiring the sharp lines of taeyong’s profile, highlighted by the dull glint of streetlights.

“do you even have a flaw?” jaehyun blurts out.

the only reply comes in complete silence, punctuated by the staccato beat of the turn signal.

shit, jaehyun did _not_ just that. resisting the urge to let out a shriek, his hand jumps to the radio dial, cranking on some top 40 station, anything to drown out the deafening alarms that ring from his brain. shit, shit, shit, shit—

taeyong’s laughing.

“you’re real smooth,” he says. there’s that smile again, this time in full bloom as he glances over at jaehyun. “and yeah, actually. i don’t know how to ride a bike.”

“what?” jaehyun sits up, incredulous. “how?”

taeyong shrugs, tapping a finger against the steering wheel. “i just never learned properly. young taeyong was always more a scooter kind of kid.”

the image of a small taeyong riding his scooter down the street, wearing an almost too big helmet, comes to jaehyun’s mind. he lets out a giggle.

“what’s so funny?” taeyong asks, narrowing his eyes.

“that’s really cute,” jaehyun replies. he’s grinning now, panic receding. “little taeyong rippin’ up the suburban streets on his scooter.”

taeyong rolls his eyes. “i’ll have you know that little taeyong practically owned the neighborhood with his scooter skills.”

“i’ll bet. wait, where are we heading?” jaehyun looks out the window, at the flashing cars and steadily increasing traffic that surrounds them. “don’t tell me you’re kidnapping me.”

“yes, because i’d kidnap you in your own car,” taeyong supplies with false exasperation. “just sit tight and you’ll find out.”

jaehyun gets his answer as they near a plaza. his eyes widen, jumping back and forth from taeyong’s smug expression and the flashing neon sign. “really? in-n-out?”

“california’s best.”

jaehyun half expects taeyong to park the car but instead, they turn into the drive-thru.

“we’re heading somewhere else,” is all taeyong says when jaehyun looks at him with raised eyebrows.

and soon enough, they’re back onto the streets, the fresh smell of grease permeating the car. jaehyun takes a sip of his milkshake, indulging in the sweet slush that hits his throat. yet, the question returns, begging to topple off his tongue as they tear down a quiet road.

“okay, seriously though, where are we going?”

taeyong slows, eyes darting to the rearview mirror. “uh. on a date?”

a date. right. it’s not like jaehyun’s pulse suddenly picks up, racing at a solid ten minutes over the speed limit at the phrase. “a date,” he croaks out. “to where exactly?”

“there’s this place i really like.” they’re on a much smaller road now, bordered by trees. jaehyun doesn’t have to strain to hear their rustling through the open window. he takes another tentative sip of his drink.

“is this the part where you tell me that you’re actually a serial killer and plan on dismembering me in some abandoned woods?”

taeyong’s laughter bubbles over the sound of drake rapping. “you know, i’m starting to think you don’t actually like me,” he says. just then, the car slows to a stop. “and there’s no dismemberment on today’s agenda. just this.”

jaehyun’s breathe hitches when he looks out the window.

it’s stunning. to his right, the ominous greenery parts away to reveal the city scape, a collection of twinkling lights scattered between bits of suburbia. he snaps his gaping mouth shut when he hears the sound of taeyong unlocking the car and stepping out. jaehyun follows suit.

“i come here a lot, especially during the summer,” taeyong says. he’s got the bag of fries in one hand, the other preoccupied by his own drink as he sits down on the hood of the car. “from up here, everything just feels distant, insignificant. it’s a good place to be when i have too many things on my mind.”

“do you have a lot of things on your mind right now?”

“no.” taeyong fixes his eyes on jaehyun. even in the dim glow of moonlight, he looks ethereal, a portrait of wide eyes framed by long lashes and a perfectly kissable cupid’s bow. the slit in his right eyebrow is back, sharpened for tonight’s occasion. taeyong quirks a smile.“there’s only one.”

in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter which of them was the first to move. it all fades away to white noise as their lips connect, as jaehyun’s hand comes up to caress taeyong’s jaw, as taeyong wrap his arm around jaehyun and pulls him close. the details are thrown to the wind, swept away with each push of their lips and the little sighs taeyong exhales.

“i’ve made up my mind,” jaehyun gasps, finally pulling away for air.

“yeah?” taeyong’s fingers come to rest on jaehyun’s shoulders, tracing circles.

“you’re definitely perfect.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so writing this chapter went on my back burner for a couple of weeks bc my life slapped me in the face and called me a loser but i'm back!! somehow this update became,,, really long (4.7k???) but i hope y'all like it
> 
> [twt](https://twitter.com/WITCHB0YZ) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/supremekermit)


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, hello, this fic is still alive!  
> some notes about this chapter before we get the show on the road:  
> 1\. this chapter is johnten heavy and involves a pov change.  
> 2\. ap exams are a system of exams for advanced placement classes in the us. they span two weeks and each day of the week usually contains tests of two different subjects (one in the morning and one in the afternoon). junior year students usually take 1-5 exams during this period, depending on the classes they take. however, you don't have to take a class in order to take an exam (often referred to as self-study).  
> 3\. for the high school in this story, their ap exams happen to fall right before finals week, so there are 2 weeks of ap testing followed by 1 week of final exams (for a total of 3 nightmare-ish weeks of testing).  
> 4\. school ends on the last day of final exams.

“good morning.”

donghyuck looks up from his tablet to squint at jaehyun. judging from the pillow marks on his little cousin’s face, the feeling isn’t universal.

“you are disturbingly enthusiastic this morning,” the preteen grumbles, taking in a spoonful of his cereal. narrowing his eyes, he brandishes the utensil at jaehyun’s peaceful face. “especially for someone who came home at 2 am.”

jaehyun grins and reaches across the kitchen table to ruffle up donghyuck’s mess of curls. “i had a wonderful time at prom. thank you for asking, duckie.”

donghyuck swats away the touch, letting out a snarl at the pet name. “i didn’t ask.”

“right, like you didn’t stay up past your bedtime to wait for jaehyun to come home,” aunt mina calls from the counter. she raises an eyebrow at donghyuck’s scandalized expression, before settling down at the table with two mugs of coffee. jaehyun grabs one with a grateful smile.

“i just couldn’t sleep,” donghyuck protests. despite his insistence, donghyuck pauses the game on his tablet to look at jaehyun expectantly. “fine, how was it?”

jaehyun knows his smile is self-explanatory. the events of last night play on a constant, giddy loop in his head, and all he wants to do is to astral project into the next unknown universe. he and taeyong had spent the rest of the night stargazing on that hill, sharing warmth as they sat side by side. a sizeable chunk of the time had been spent giggling against each other’s mouths, lips on lips trading confessions. in the pale moonlight, jaehyun learned about taeyong’s favorite constellations, and more importantly, the way the boy’s eyes seemed to fill with an infinity of stars as he looked up at the night sky.

when jaehyun woke up this morning, eyes bleary, there was a notification on his phone. the sender’s name sent an instant smile to jaehyun’s face and the expression only broadened when he clicked on the message.

it was a picture of them, a midnight snapshot. two boys in their suits, faces stretched into wide smiles they stood against the soft glow of the cityscape. below the text, there was a single heart. 

jaehyun takes a sip of his coffee. “it was great.”

  
  
  


 

jaehyun catches sight of johnny as he stumbles into first period, barely catching the tail of the bell. he slides into his seat and sends dimpled smile at the teacher, who looks unimpressed before marking him tardy. at least he’d tried.

he scans the table, frowning when he noticed an empty seat. “hey, where’s ten?”

johnny stiffens. “i don’t know.”

recalling last night’s incident, jaehyun furrows his brows. “didn’t you guys kiss-” he cuts off, eyes widening in realization.

_ jaehyun jung you complete moron. _

johnny startles, forehead creasing as he leans across the table. “you saw us?”

jaehyun groans, slapping a hand over his stupid mouth. “i saw nothing. absolutely nothing.”

“how did you-” johnny stops as he catches the teacher’s disapproving gaze, lowering his head to pretend that he was scribbling down the class agenda in his notebook. he continues in a whisper. “how did you even see us?”

jaehyun ducks down to extract his folder. “don’t worry about it,” he quips as he pops back up to the table.

johnny narrows his eyes. “jaehyun.”

“don’t worry about it,” jaehyun repeats. “i never saw anything.” he opts for a cheeky smile as he unzips his pencil bag, nonchalantly searching for an apparently elusive pen.

johnny rolls his eyes, shifting his focus back to the journal at hand. “there was nothing to see.”

jaehyun’s smile drops. “johnny-”

“i don’t wanna talk about it,” the boy mumbles. his eyes are resolute in staring down at the lined paper. 

“but-”

the teacher’s scalding voice cuts through the room. “mr. jung, not only do you have the audacity to come to my class  _ late _ , but you also have the audacity to  _ whisper _ during what is intended to be instructional time.”

jaehyun colors as all eyes in the class pin on him. “i-”

“i do not want to hear another word from you,” the woman booms.

“understood,” jaehyun mutters. appeased, the teacher resumes her daily rant on the importance of recognizing iambic pentameter on the upcoming exam.

to johnny’s demise, the interaction does nothing to curb the kicked puppy looks jaehyun sends his way all throughout class. when the bell finally rings, johnny sighs before jaehyun could ask another question. 

“don’t worry about it,” he tells the boy with a smile. he’s not sure if he believe his own words.

  
  
  
  


in retrospect, this was the last thing johnny had expected to happen when his eyes had latched on ten’s shaking figure in the corner of the garden. the more he replays the chain of events in his mind, the more he reasons that there could have been numerous other outcomes that strike a far more rational chord.

yet here he is, making out with his best friend.

he should be happy. ten’s lips are soft, impossibly plush against his own and johnny clings onto the feeling. oblivious to the rustle of nearby bushes, he inches closer. his hands come up to cradle ten’s jaw, angling it to deepen the kiss.

but it’s all wrong.

ten is still crying. the realization courses through johnny’s body with a sharp pain and johnny jerks away, only to be met with an equally wide set of red-rimmed eyes. ten stares at him, chest heaving, blotches of dark stains where his eyeliner had once been. his cheeks are wet, and they continue to be as another tear slides down his face.

they’ve made a mess.

johnny unconsciously takes another back. words escape him. instead, he casts his eyes to the ground, focusing on the patch on dirt on the otherwise flawless lawn. maybe he could find an explanation there.

“can you drive me home?” the quiet question cuts the air, silencing the roar of blood in johnny’s ears. he startles, looking up to meet ten’s eyes. they’re just as glassy as they’d been seconds ago.

johnny steels his voice, flattening the warble that threatens to rip from his throat. “okay.”

the drive back is stifling. 

johnny keeps his eyes fixed on the road ahead, on the mirrors to the side and to the back, on the steering wheel under his fingers and anything else except for ten. in turn, ten keeps complete silence. he’s a statue, back straight and legs crossed as he occupies the passenger seat. his eyes stay glued to the window.

when they finally pull up to the familiar two story with red shutters, ten opens the door and slides out before johnny can work up the nerve to cut the engine.

heart stuttering, johnny calls out, “ten-“

the boy stops, hand hovering over the door. johnny can feel the words die in his throat as their eyes meet. in the dim glow of the streetlight, ten’s face is shrouded in shadow, but the tension in his jaw is unmistakable. there’s no room for johnny’s words.

“goodnight.”

the door slams shut.

  
  
  


ten isn’t there the next day. or the day after that. in fact, he remains absent for the rest of the week and the lack of his presence sets johnny on edge. he spends his nights holding staring contests with his phone, begging the screen to light up with a notification that never comes.

there’s just radio silence. 

from what johnny’s been able to wheedle out from a concerned jaehyun (and an equally invested taeyong), ten is sick and decided to stay home to review for upcoming exams. this information does absolutely nothing to soothe johnny’s nerves. in the years of he’s known ten, the boy has only ever been absent from school once, when he caught the flu in eighth grade and couldn’t walk without puking. the thought of ten being bedlam claws at johnny, chipping away any of his sanity.

“earth to johnny.”

johnny blinks and looks up to see jaehyun’s face pull into frown. taeyong looks just as uneasy from where he’s attached to jaehyun’s hip, just as they’ve been ever since the night of prom.

prom. johnny wills the memory out of his head.

“are you okay?” taeyong asks. he seats himself on the opposite bench of the table and sets his lunch on the table. jaehyun plops down beside him, eyeing johnny with apprehension.

johnny’s fine. at least that’s what he tells his friends with a rigid smile. they don’t look like they buy it, but it’s okay. johnny has other things on his mind.

“you’re visiting ten after school right?” he asks.

jaehyun and taeyong share a look, before nodding. 

“are you coming?” jaehyun asks, hesitation bleeding through.

“no.” the words are immediate, just like the panic that rises in johnny’s chest at the thought of seeing ten in person. it’s ironic if he lets himself think about it, the way he’s spent the past few several nights waiting for a text but can’t work up the will to visit his best friend. 

“oh.”

still, johnny can’t give up his concern. he opts for what he hopes is a less-strained smile.

“can you two do me a favor?”

  
  
  
  
  


the weekend passes by in a frenzy of last minute cramming. johnny alternates his time between forcing his brain to regurgitate derivative formulas for his calculus exam and moping in bed, eyes glued to his phone. at the very least, jaehyun’s texts are a relief, dissipating some of the worry that’s been eating away at him.

when monday finally rolls around, johnny is pretty sure that his face has seen better days. dark circles hang beneath his eyes and there’s a fresh breakout settling across his forehead. he could barely dignify his reflection in the bathroom with a response.

it’s getting warmer now, but he tugs on a sweatshirt anyways. the gymnasium where the ap exams are held is always freezing. 

the drive to school is fairly uneventful and by the time johnny makes his way from the parking lot to the gymnasium, he’s feeling quite certain that he’ll at least pass the exam.

that is, until he sees him.

johnny slows his pace, uncertainty dragging at every footstep, but it’s too late. ten makes eye contact with him from over jaehyun’s shoulder and freezes, eyes widening almost comically. confused, jaehyun turns too, abruptly cutting off his sentence when he sees johnny.

“you know what, i think i should go find taeyong,” jaehyun mutters, before scurrying off.

it’s just the two of them now, half a yard apart. unfiltered tension hangs in the air between them. johnny clears his throat, if only in an attempt to dissipate the pressure. 

“are you feeling-”

“did you study-”

they both break off. johnny realizes that for the first time in his life, ten looks positively skittish, eyes darting around to gauge his surroundings. 

johnny sighs. “you can go first.”

ten continues staring blankly, before the words seem to register in his brain. “oh,” he says, before gesturing to the prep book in johnny’s arms. “did you study?”

they both know it’s a stupid question. of course johnny studied. johnny might enjoy procrastinating on all his homework assignment and sleeping during lectures, but studying for an ap exam is bare minimum behavior. 

“yeah,” johnny says.

somehow, it’s the wrong response, because ten seems to deflate, his small form sagging as his gaze drops to the ground. “that’s good.” 

johnny gulps. he takes in the big scarf wrapped around ten’s neck and the way the boy’s nose scrunches as he lets out a sniff. “are you feeling better?”

ten looks up. his face is unreadable. “a lot better,” he says. all of a sudden, the edges of his lips curl into a tentative smile. “thank you for the soup.”

johnny pales. “they told you it was from me?”

ten shrugs, but the smile still plays at his lips. the sight of it sends relief through johnny’s system. “they didn’t need to. i didn’t sit at your dinner table every week for ten years to not recognize your mom’s cooking.”

not every week. he’d been noticeably absent for the last, spurring johnny’s mother to ask where her second son had gone. she had only been appeased when johnny suggested he could bring ten a container of her  _ samgyetang _ (by proxy means, of course). 

“oh,” is all johnny could dumbly reply with.

ten opens his mouth, poised to say something, but then a teacher starts yelling for students to line up and he snaps it shut. for a second, he seems to mull over his thoughts, before jerking a thumb over his shoulder to point at a gathering line. “i should get going then. good luck on the exam.”

ten offers johnny one last smile before he walks off. johnny can only stare at his retreating figure as ten makes his way to a line and easily strikes up conversation with another classmate. curiosity of the words that ten held back circle his mind, wheedling its way in between calculus theorems. it’s all he can think about, even as he seats himself in a rickety plastic chair and waits for the exam to start.

there’s a tap to his shoulder. johnny turns to his table-mate with a questioning look.

yuta sends him a sheepish smile. “do you happen to have a spare pencil?”

  
  
  
  
  


“if i were to brew my coffee with redbull, do you think i could stay awake for another 24 hours?”

johnny looks up from his psychology notes to level jaehyun with a frown. “you didn’t sleep last night?”

it’s taeyong who responds, patting jaehyun sympathetically on the shoulder. “he has physics in the afternoon.” letting out a sigh, jaehyun slumps down, resting his head on the lunch table. 

johnny squashes the urge to do the same. it’s the second week of ap testing, and they’re all wrung out. beside him, taeil simultaneously shovels a bite of pasta into his mouth while flipping to the next page of his textbook. doyoung grimaces from across the table, but before he can chastise taeil for chewing with his mouth open, he’s distracted by winwin swatting away at yuta with a particularly hefty prep book. 

by some worldly logic, taeyong’s relocation to their lunch table had meant that his entire group of friends migrated with him. johnny doesn’t mind. if anything, the loudness of the other boys help to fill the painfully obvious ten-shaped void. despite their conversation at the start of last week, johnny gets the sense that ten is actively avoiding him. the only time he sees him is during their shared classes, and even then they both manage to avoid any conversation, save for small greetings and the occasional passing of paper. there are no mentions of what shall not be named.

“this is what you get for trying to self-study psych,” doyoung sniffs from where he’s successfully wrenched yuta away from winwin.

jaehyun groans, lifting his head to pout at the boy. “it’s not my fault that my counselor wouldn’t let me take the class when i came here.”

“too many people,” taeil supplies helpfully, around a mouth of pasta. 

doyoung wrinkles his nose, tossing a napkin in taeil’s direction. “kids these days and their obsession with taking ap’s to buff up their college applications. how tragic.”

“you say that like you don’t take the most ap classes out of us, mr. i-intern-at-stanford,” taeyong snorts. he reaches down to rest his hand on jaehyun’s neck and johnny swears he can feel his lunch crawl its way back up his esophagus as jaehyun practically purrs from the touch. when johnny fixes taeyong with an unamused gaze, the boy simply blushes.

“you two are absolutely disgusting,” yuta says. somehow, he’s managed to make his way back to winwin’s side, the latter placated as he rests his head on yuta’s shoulder. johnny doesn’t understand their relationship and apparently neither does doyoung, who shares a resigned look with johnny. “and at least your counselor talks to you. i have the feeling that mine’s dropped off the face of the earth, if the closed sign that’s always on her office door is anything to go by.”

to this, taeil lets out a deep sigh. he’s polished off his plate. “we really have to live like this, huh?”

“when they said junior year was hell, they weren’t joking,” winwin laments.

the statement reverbates around the table, drawing collective grunts of agreement. they all know that this is the final stretch, the last time they’d have before adulthood came knocking on their door. 

doyoung purses his lips. “just one more week to go.”

johnny tears his eyes from where they’ve unconsciously drifted to ten’s empty seat. he could hang on, if just for one more week. 

  
  
  


_ can we talk? _

johnny stares at his phone, unable to contain his shock. the final bell had just rung, announcing the end of the school year. students swarm the halls around him, desperate to put distance between themselves and the cinderblock campus. 

_ okay _ , johnny types out. there’s barely a second of pause before another text springs up.

_ meet me in the left wing? _

the words send a fresh wave of panic through johnny as he jostles the shoulder of some unsuspecting freshman in his attempt to push past the mob and out of the building. quickening his pace, johnny makes his way across the courtyard, dodging through the streams of people on their way out.

by the time johnny makes it to the wing on the other side of campus, he feels winded. slowing down in front of the building, he waits for the last handful of students to trickle out before entering. 

the hallways are empty, save a single figure. johnny’s breathe catches in his throat and for a second, he contemplates turning right back around.

squeak of his shoes against the linoleum floor gives him away. ten’s head snaps up, his eyes meeting johnny’s. 

for a moment, it’s just silence. then, “i broke up with lucas.”

the statement echoes in the empty space. johnny blinks, uncomprehending of what he should do with that information.

meanwhile, ten flushes. he looks as if he’s about to book it down the hallway any second now. the tell-tale fidget of his hands catches johnny’s eyes, pulling on strings of worn-out memories. 

ten takes johnny’s silence as an invitation to continue. “i broke up with lucas after prom. he… took it surprisingly well, although i guess i should have seen that coming.” he lets out a bitter chuckle, the sound sharp and unnatural. it stabs at johnny’s chest, pushing him to take a step closer.

“ten,” he tries. he reaches out, but the boy backs away.

“no, listen to me first, please,” ten pleads. johnny relents, letting his arms to his side.

ten sucks in a breathe. “we’ve been best friends for ten years. you know me so well and sometimes, it feels like you’re my freaking soulmate. and i don’t know if i want that to change.”

this is the part. johnny could feel it, the hairline cracks running across his heart, threatening to split it into a million jagged pieces. this is the part where ten says that they should pretend it never happened, that they’ll always just be friends and nothing more. he always knew it would happen. it’s just a matter of accepting it now.

“but i love you.”

johnny stops breathing.

ten’s eyes look oddly shiny as he steps forward, closing the distance between them. he reaches out, until he can grasp johnny’s hands and slide them into his own. determined, he looks up with a faint smile. “i love you the most, johnny. i can’t tell you if this love is just friendship or something more, but i know that for the past three weeks, i’ve felt so fucking miserable without you. and after the absolute hell this year has been, i know i need you in my life.”

he’s crying now. any restraint johnny has built up disappears at the sight of ten’s tears and johnny pulls him closer, until the boy is burrowed against him, wrapped up in his arms. 

“i don’t know know what this is between us, but i’m willing to give it a try,” ten says. his voice is muffled against johnny’s shirt, but the words could not have been louder. “i miss you, johnny seo.”

there’s an odd feeling that blooms in johnny’s chest, as he holds ten tight in that deserted hallway. the pain in his chest doesn’t quite subside, yet there’s something else, a glimmer of barely contained joy as ten’s arms come to circle his torso and suddenly, johnny can breathe again.

“i missed you too.”

  
  
  
  


summer in california takes jaehyun by surprise. he’s long been accustomed to the muggy heat of connecticut, the inescapable sense of humidity. instead, the california air is crisp, dry and high with the everbright sunshine. but no matter the state, the lethargy stays the same. 

summer comes with a grand pause, like someone had hit the pause button after playing jaehyun’s life on two times speed and suddenly, there’s a seemingly endless stretch of freedom. jaehyun knows exactly what to do with that freedom. he’s spent the last five days holing in up in taeyong’s room, allowing his limbs to become a permanent fixture of the other boy’s body. his poorly reasoned excuse is that taeyong’s house has air conditioning, but they both know that isn’t the only reason. regardless, taeyong makes no complaints, with the exception of when jaehyun puts him in a vice grip to pepper his face in kisses, but jaehyun will take what he can get.

still, there’s something that bugs jaehyun. he turns to jab an index finger at taeyong’s shoulder.

“hm?” taeyong’s eyes stay fixed on the screen in front of him.

pouting, jaehyun sidles closer until he can comfortably plant his chin on taeyong’s shoulder. his arms sneak around the boy’s waist. with a sigh, taeyong relents and melts into the touch, pressing his back flush against jaehyun’s body. he reaches up to pull out his earbuds. “yes?”

“i have a question.”

taeyong turns, apprehension rising at the sudden somber tone. “which is?”

at this, jaehyun pauses. he takes the chances to drop his hands to taeyong’s lap, before lacing their fingers and revelling in the softness of taeyong’s hands. jaehyun sucks in a breathe, unsure of how to verbalize the question that’s been itching away at his chest for the past several days.

taeyong frowns. “you’re scaring me. what is it?”

“a question.”

“or so you’ve said,” taeyong replies. he shifts, twisting so that he could was face to face with the other boy. “what’s wrong?”

jaehyun clears his throat. “this is going to sound really stupid but… we’re dating right?”

the look on taeyong’s face is nothing short of incredulous. his eyes go wide, blinking at an almost increasing rate. his mouth parts, pretty lips forming a small ‘o’. 

jaehyun regrets ever learning how to speak.

snapping out of his trance, taeyong leans forward. the corners of his lips tug as he tries his best to stifle any laughter. “what else do you think we’ve been doing for the past month?”

jaehyun groans, covering his face _. jaehyun jung, you are an idiot. _ he can feel the heat rising up his neck, threatening its way to his cheeks. “i don’t know.”

giggling, taeyong settles on jaehyun’s lap and reaches out to pry away jaehyun’s hands. “you don’t know?”

“it’s just,” jaehyun starts. “we never made it official? like, i guess we’re technically  _ boyfriends _ -“

“you guess?”

“okay, okay, we  _ are _ boyfriends but we never actually  _ said _ it, y’know?” jaehyun breaks off, the pout returning to his face. “i just… wanted to be sure.”

taeyong bites his lips, dangling on the brink of laughter, but nevertheless, he wraps his arms around jaehyun’s neck and brings the boy closer to him. from this distance, jaehyun has no choice but to be confronted by taeyong’s pretty eyes and pretty nose and pretty cheeks and pretty mouth. he’s awestruck all over again, just like that first time. 

“just to be sure,” jaehyun repeats. he tilts his head, face splitting into a cheeky grin. “ask me out.”

jaehyun thinks the sound of taeyong’s laughter is magical. but the words that leave taeyong’s mouth next are what takes jaehyun’s breathe away.

“jaehyun, can i be your boyfriend?”

there’s no hesitation when their lips meet. “of course.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *incoming long rant*  
> /screams/ 30k+ later and i cannot believe i've finished this. i've literally never finished anything, so this is a first! thank you so much to everyone who has read, given kudos, subscribed, and commented on this story. i'm floored that this story has received any attention... ik im pretty bad at replying to comments but please know they always make me smile! 
> 
> looking back, there are a lot of things i wished i had done differently, but this has been a great learning experience. i’m extremely nervous to post this, but i hope y’all liked it ;-;
> 
> if anyone has any q's whatsoever about the story pls drop them off at my cc! i'll be happy to answer them, especially because i had quite a few ideas that i couldn't fit within the story itself.
> 
> (also, if you're interested in following the dreamies' story in the same universe, check out my [summertime series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1053833).)

**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/WITCHB0YZ) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/supremekermit)


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